Azernews.Az

The Baku Inter-bank Currency Exchange (BICEX) and insurance company Ata Sigorta have signed an agreement over the insurance company's participation in the MONEY-MARKET of the Bourse E-System of Trades (BEST).

The agreement has been signed by BICEX head Farhad Amirbayov and the CEO of Ata Sigorta, Museib Aliyev.

According to the contract, the Ata Sigorta insurance company gets an opportunity to enter the wholesale money bank market as an equal to the banks participant. BICEX will provide the new participant with access to the BEST trading system.

According to Aliyev, accession to the BEST system is an innovation for the country's insurance sector.

"Development of the insurance sector and growth of money insurance companies will contribute to the increase in interest to the BEST system which is a very good tool to enter the money market. We have high hopes for this system and I think we will expand our operations in this area in the future," Aliyev said.

Ata Sigorta is the third insurance company after Ateshgah Sigorta and Buta Sigorta to conclude such a contract.

Ata Sigorta, a part of AtaHolding, has been operating in the insurance market since 2004 and renders services on 22 types of voluntary and four types of compulsory insurance. The company is a founder and member of the Compulsory Insurance Bureau. The company has four branches and four representative offices.

The Baku Interbank Currency Exchange was established on June 21, 1993, as a closed joint stock company (JSC). Its shares were divided equally among the five shareholders - the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the Industrial and Investment Bank, the Agro-Industrial Bank and the Savings Bank.

Following the unification of the previous three, among the shareholders of the Exchange are CBA, IBA and Kapital Bank as well as non-bank credit organisation Agrarkredit.

The Bourse E-system of Trades is a system built on the principle of universality in the provision of exchange services and currently is a modern platform for the integrated management of foreign exchange risk and short-term liquidity of banks. BEST allows the Azerbaijani banks not only to conduct transactions in foreign currencies, but also undertake active borrowing and placement on the interbank credit market.