Center-invest Bank recently participated in a study tour organised by International Finance Corporation (IFC, World Bank Group) for managers from the Fransabank Group (Lebanon). Their objective was to learn about experience of financing small business and energy efficiency projects in various sectors of the economy.

The Lebanese bankers met with experts from Center-invest Bank. They also visited a number of our business customers in Taganrog, Chaltyr, Novocherkassk and Aksay, and saw for themselves how these companies are successfully applying sustainable development and transformational banking principles.

Head of SME Lending at Fransabank, Mr Antoine Zarifeh, said, “Our team acquired very interesting and useful experience during the visit to southern Russia. We met with experts from Center-invest Bank and the bank’s customers and we learnt about the new approaches and technology being used by these companies. I hope that Center-invest Bank’s experience will help us to develop an energy efficiency programme in Lebanon and achieve equally successful results.”

Fransabank, a leader in the Lebanese banking community, has successfully created, developed and consolidated its competitive advantage. Today, the Group operates in ten countries and it is considering opening branches in West Africa as well as offices to handle transactions with China.

Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, Dr Vasily Vysokov, said, “The Lebanese banking system operates in such a way that even Lebanese people living abroad can use its services. We are very pleased that the transformational banking model is becoming increasingly popular worldwide. We are gratified that IFC has repeatedly used Center-invest Bank as a forum for exchanging experience of the business model for the new banking system of the future.”