Access Holding takes stake in MicroFinance Bank of Azerbaijan

All five of the previous shareholders participated in the capital increase and welcomed a new sixth shareholder - Access Microfinance Holding.

After the capital increase the new shareholder structure of MFBA is as follows: the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation and the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank – each have 20%, KfW the Development Bank of the German Government – 24.95%, the German consulting company LFS Financial Systems GmbH - 5.09%, and AccessHolding - 9.95%.

"The willingness of all the existing shareholders and AccessHolding to invest additional funds into MFBA demonstrates their commitment and confidence in the future of MFBA. It demonstrates their belief in the continuing rapid growth of the bank," said the General Manger of MFBA, Dr. Andrew Pospielovsky.

In 2006 alone, MFBA's portfolio tripled to USD 50 million and the population of Azerbaijan is also demonstrating their confidence in MFBA and trusting their savings with us.

MFBA's branch network not only covers Baku with eight branches, but also extends to Sumgait, Ganja, Sheki, Lenkoran and Khachmaz regions – bringing European standards of Banking services to the population of Azerbaijan.

In a very short period MFBA passed VISA certification and everyone can now obtain VISA cards from MFBA which they can use not only in MFBA's ATM and POS network, but also across Azerbaijan and around the world.

Access Microfinance Holding was established in August 2006 in Berlin. Its shareholders include the KfW Development Bank, the European Investment Bank (official investment body of the European Union), the International Finance Corporation and the Omidyar Tufts Microfinance Fund. The company has committed capital of EUR 18 million

Access Microfinance Holding was created to invest in microfinance institutions (MFIs) and to develop these investments through a combination of equity finance, holding services, and management services rendered by its technical partner, LFS Financial Systems GmbH (LFS). APA-Economics