BSTDB holds its Annual Meeting in Russia

News | 08-Jun-2008

On June 8th, 2008, the Board of Governors of the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) held its 10th Annual Meeting in St. Petersburg, Russia under the chairmanship of Mr. Dmitri Pankin, BSTDB Governor for Russia and Deputy Minister of Finance of the Russian Federation.

Key decisions taken by the Board included the adoption of the Financial Statements of the Bank for 2007, the member states’ contributions to the agreed capital increase, granting the Observer Status with BSTDB to a number of important international institutions and banks, election of the Governor for Greece as the new Chairman of the Board and decision to hold the next BSTDB Annual Meeting in June 2009, in its home city of Thessaloniki, Greece.

The Black Sea Bank posted quite impressive results for 2007 financial year, with 60% growth of outstanding portfolio and 15% increase in operating income. The amount of approved operations exceeded USD 1,3 billion.

The BSTDB rapid institutional and business development motivated the shareholding countries to seek more challenging tasks for the Bank in terms of getting involved in important regional investment projects in infrastructure, transport networks, etc. in cooperation with major international financial institutions and donors. Therefore, a decision was taken in December last year to increase the authorized capital of the Bank threefold, to SDR 3 billion (almost USD 5 billion) and to double the subscribed capital to SDR 2 billion. The rest of the authorized capital, not subscribed by the existing shareholders, could be eventually offered to new shareholders - states or non-regional financial institutions.

The Board decided to accept the applications for Observer Status with BSTDB received from the European Investment Bank (EIB), Austrian Development Bank (OeEB) and from the Association of European Development Finance Institutions (EDFI), which brings together bilateral donors - official development agencies of major western European countries. The Board also renewed the Observer Status for the German Development Bank (KfW). The Observer Status provides a mechanism for close regular interaction of the involved financial institutions with BSTDB for better synergies and facilitate co-financing opportunities.

The Board elected the Governor for the Hellenic Republic as Chairman of the BSDTB Board of Governors and the Governors for Albania and Armenia as Deputy Chairmen of the Board for a period of one year until the next Annual Meeting decided to take place in Thessaloniki, Greece on June 7, 2009, where the Bank would celebrate its 10-year anniversary.

Representatives of the Organization of the Black Sea Economic Cooperation (BSEC), and institutions granted the Observer Status with BSTDB attended the Annual Meeting.