Azernews.Az

By Gulgiz Dadashova

The International Bank of Azerbaijan -- a major state-owned bank holding at least 40 percent of all bank assets in the country - will bring its authorized capital up to $1 billion.

The authorized capital of the IBA currently amounts to 368 million manats (over $469 million).

The decision to up the capital stock by around 500 million manats was made at an extraordinary meeting of IBA shareholders on October 18.

The bank said that considering growth dynamics of the bank a four-year capital increase program was adopted during the meeting.

According to the outlined program, the shareholders approved IBA's capital increase by 200 million manats initially, to be followed by an additional 300 mln manat hike over the following three years (100 million manats each year).

The IBA was established in 1992 as a successor of the Azerbaijani branch of Vnesheconombank. The IBA holds a leading position in the domestic banking sector. The main shareholder of the bank is the Azerbaijani government, which holds a 50.2 percent stake, and 49.8 percent is owned by private individuals and legal entities.

As of July 1, 2013, the total capital of the IBA amounted to 765.56 million manats, which is 61.4 percent over the figure posted on July 1, 2012.