News

At the AGM on 11 June 2013 the shareholders of Center-invest Bank approved the new composition of the Board of Directors, agreed to a dividend payment for 2012, and approved the joint stock company’s annual report and financial statements for 2012.

Center-invest Bank is in 8th place in the ranking “The Leading Banks in Russia’s SME Lending Market in 2012”, compiled by RosBusinessConsulting (www.rbc.ru). In 2012, Center-invest Bank lent SMEs a total of RUB63bn.

On 27 March 2013 Center-invest Bank placed BO-03 and BO-06 series bonds with a total par value of RUB2.5bn on the MICEX. The bonds mature in three years and carry a put option after 1.5 years. Total demand amounted to RUB4.88bn. Upon completion of book building, the annual coupon rate was lowered to 10.25%. The placement organisers were Zenit Bank and Sberbank CIB.

Center-invest Bank ranks 36th in the annual rating of the most reliable banks in Russia published by Forbes business magazine (No. 3 dated 21.03.2013). Classed as “highly reliable”, Center-invest Bank is the only bank in southern Russia to be listed in the top forty most reliable banks.

On 12 March, Center-invest Bank hosted a meeting to review the first year of implementation of the Youth Business Russia programme of the International Business Leaders Forum (IBLF) in the Rostov Region.

Under an agreement signed on 15 March 2013, the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) is to provide Center-invest Bank, southern Russia’s leading bank, with two three-year credit lines for a total of RUB1.5bn (RUB750m and RUB750m). For the first time in the EBRD and Center-invest Bank’s history, the agreement was signed using videoconferencing technology.

At the end of February, the chairman of Center-invest Bank’s Board of Directors, Dr Vasily Vysokov, attended the International Finance Corporation’s (IFC) annual FinNet conference in Washington D.C. This year’s conference looked at holistic solutions to financial inclusion challenges. The participants discussed access to finance in various countries, with specific reference to agribusiness, energy efficiency, microfinance, small business, and finance for social projects and female entrepreneurs.

IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is providing a loan of 900 million Russian rubles (around $29 million) to Center-Invest Bank to help it expand access to finance for small and medium enterprises in the Russia Federation’s southern regions.