Azernews.Az

BAKU - The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the country’s leading bank, has made another accomplishment by achieving its inclusion in the list of the world’s 1,000 biggest and most stable banks, according to a recent poll conducted by The Banker magazine.

IBA ranked 958th for the amount of capital in the list, which was released in July, according to the bank’s press-service.

IBA, whose outstanding performance has been repeatedly highlighted by the world’s leading financial institutions, saw its long-term rating upgraded to the BBB- level by Fitch in May, which is a graphic example of the bank’s stable activity and high reliability.

IBA announced early last week that the bank had successfully sealed a transaction on drawing a three-year syndicated loan worth $100 million, the first syndicated credit in its history received for such a long term.

The deal was arranged by Credit Suisse International. Such heavyweights of the world banking industry as Halyk Bank, JP Morgan and MDM Bank participated in the transaction.

The funds, allotted with the annual LIBOR +4.75% interest rate, will finance trade transactions and other IBA projects.

This is IBA’s fourth transaction on attracting funds this year and the second one involving Credit Suisse. Earlier, in February, IBA signed an agreement with Credit Suisse on opening a credit line totaling $111 million to finance trade deals. Moreover, this June the bank concluded an agreement on the sidelines of the annual Islamic Development Bank (IDB) meeting with the International Islamic Trade Finance Corporation (ITFC) on opening a $30 million credit line for the same purpose and a deal with ITFC for another credit line, worth $15m, to fund small and medium enterprise projects.

Thus, IBA has drawn funds worth over $250m in the first half of 2010.

IBA was established in 1992 as a successor of the Azerbaijan branch of the Foreign Economy Bank. IBA has a well-developed branch network and provides banking services to large corporate clients and, to a lesser extent, to individuals.

IBA is the only Azerbaijani bank with state participation. The state-owned share in the bank is 50.2 percent.