Turkish state lender Ziraat launches in Azerbaijan

By Gokhan Ergocun

ANKARA (AA) – Turkey’s state lender Ziraat Bank launched officially in Azerbaijan, it announced on Tuesday.

Nihat Zeybekci, the Turkish economy minister, and Elman Siraj Rustamov, governor of the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan, were present at the launching ceremony, the bank said in a statement.

The bank has been in the Azerbaijan market since 1995 as a partnership of Azer Turk Bank, the statement added.

The bank got a license from the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan on Dec. 30, 2014 and has been operating in Azerbaijan since 2015.

"Ziraat Bank Azerbaijan reached $100 million assets, $45 million of credit, $50 million of deposit money and $35 million of equity just in its second year," the bank said.

Minister Zeybekci said: "Ziraat Bank will play a significant role in economic independence of both countries."

The bank will be the pride of Azerbaijan and one of the most important banks in the world, he added.

Ziraat Bank carries its international financial know-how and experience to Azerbaijan, Huseyin Aydin, Ziraat's CEO, said.

He added: "Ziraat Bank in Azerbaijan will expand and develop the country's financial sector."

Ziraat, established in 1863, employs more than 20,000 people in 1,812 branches in Turkey and in 18 foreign countries, including Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kazakhstan, Russia, the U.K., the U.S., Georgia, Bulgaria, Kosovo, Bahrain and Montenegro according to its website.

The bank also purchased and rebranded Uzbekistan's UTBANK, last Tuesday.