Baku, Finance Time.  In October 2002, 10 years ago, AccessBank was founded and started its banking activities in Baku. The mission of the Bank was providing banking services to micro-and small businesses in Azerbaijan in order to support small private entrepreneurship in the country. During the first years, the Bank was operating under the name of Microfinance Bank of Azerbaijan and was rebranded to AccessBank in 2008.

During its 10 years of presence in the market in Azerbaijan, AccessBank has achieved a remarkable growth with total assets approaching USD 600m and a loan portfolio of close to USD 500m. The Bank ranks today among the Top 10 banks of the country and has become an essential partner for its more than 120,000 clients offering a comprehensive range of products for medium, small and micro corporates as well as for its private clients in the retail segment. The Bank has built up an extensive branch network in Azerbaijan’s medium and smaller cities in the regions where it serves thousands of clients in particular in the agricultural sector.

In almost every year, the Bank has been able increase its equity base due to stable and sound earnings with the result that it is today with a total equity exceeding USD 128 m among the Top 5 banks in the country in terms of capitalization.

With the transparency of its business activities and as a leader in the market, AccessBank has positioned itself as a stable bank in Azerbaijan. As an indicator, Fitch International Ratings, one of the leading international rating agencies of the world, affirmed AccessBank’s rating of “BB+ with Outlook Stable,” the highest among Azerbaijan’s financial institutions since 2008. AccessBank is 100% owned by six international shareholders, consisting of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation, the Black Sea Trade and Development Bank, KfW Development Bank – the Development Bank of the German Government, Access Microfinance Holding AG, a strategic investor in the microfinance industry, and LFS Financial Systems GmbH – a German consulting company.

AccessBank was recognized as “The Best Bank of Azerbaijan” by the Euromoney Publication Group consecutively for three years (2010-2012). In 2011, the Global Finance journal awarded AccessBank as «The Best Bank of Azerbaijan» in the category of «The Best Bank of Developing Markets of the World (upon Asian region)». In addition, AccessBank was awarded as «The Bank of the Year in Azerbaijan» by The Banker publication in 2011.