Business news

MINSK, 15 October (BelTA) – Foreign financial institutions show interest in Belinvestbank, Chairman of the Belinvestbank Board Gennady Sysoyev said at a press conference on 15 October, BelTA has learned.

“Thanks to the memorandum of understanding between Belarus and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the agreements signed today, foreign financial institutions take interest in us as a partner of the EBRD,” Gennady Sysoyev said. He added that international cooperation provides Belinvestbank with new opportunities like access to expert advisory services, foreign practices, and new competitive markets.

On 15 October, Belinvestbank and the EBRD signed agreements on the allocation of €50 million for the development of small businesses and promotion of foreign trade in Belarus. This is one of the main measures envisaged in the plan for Belinvestbank pre-privatization and laid down in the memorandum of understanding signed by the EBRD and the Belarusian government in May 2015. The memorandum stipulates that the controlling block of shares in Belinvestbank will be sold by 2020. Besides, the EBRD will provide assistance with pre-privatization and sale of the state-owned shares of Belinvestbank.

EBRD Managing Director for Eastern Europe and the Caucasus Francis Malige noted: “We need to implement the project and the agreements that we signed today. The next important stage will be for the EBRD to become a minority shareholder in Belinvestbank in order to help it enhance its corporate governance and achieve full privatization.”

OAO Belarusian Bank for Development and Reconstruction Belinvestbank provides banking products and services to businesses and private customers in the Republic of Belarus. It is the fourth largest bank in Belarus in terms of assets.