Rabitabank II

completed

Rabitabank (RB) or (the Bank) was established in 1993 by public-sector companies of the Ministry of Communications. Since then, the Bank has been privatized, and currently is 95% privately owned. Following privatization, RB retained its communications sector niche and continues to serve and finance local and joint-venture companies in the cellular, long-distance, and telecom installation fields. However, learning from the experience of peer banks' failures from sector concentrations as well as understanding the importance of SMEs in the country's economic development, RB is placing importance on increasing work with SMEs. The Bank is headquartered in Baku and has 4 branches in and outside of Baku. IFC has been approached by Rabitabank for loan funds to on-lend to small businesses in Azerbaijan. The Bank wishes to increase the provision of financing to small businesses to strengthen the linkages between large oil and gas sector firms and the small business market. There is currently a major shortage of funds targeted at this segment of the economy.