YEREVAN, October 4. / ARKA /. ProCredit Bank in Armenia will implement a more dynamic and aggressive strategy, Ghristoph Freytag, chairman of ProCredit Holding, said today.

Speaking at a news conference he said it took the bank a lot of efforts over the last three years to stabilize the situation affected by the latest global crisis. In respect to Armenia he said the bank was carefully increasing its credit portfolio.

‘Thank God, our bank in Armenia has managed to successfully cope with the crisis," he said.

Freytag said within the new strategy the bank will focus on improvement of staff skills and pay greater attention to administration.

ProCredit Bank executive director, Asmus Rotne, said the bank is determined to become the leading bank for small business, both in terms of lending and services.

"Our goal is to become a steady and long-term partner for small businesses, providing them with high quality services through our professional staff, and be open and transparent with respect to our customers," he stressed.

Speaking about working with individuals, Mr. Rotne said ProCredit Bank as a ‘round the corner bank’ is aimed at promoting financial literacy of clients.

"We will concentrate on developing a culture of savings," he said, adding that the bank will not stimulate the aggressive consumer lending to customers.

ProCredit Bank was launched in Armenia in February 2008. ProCredit Bank in Armenia is part of the ProCredit Group, consisting of 21 financial institutions operating in Eastern Europe, Africa and Latin America, which are governed by ProCredit Holding AG located in Frankfurt am Main, Germany. Founders of ProCredit Bank are such international well-known organizations as: ProCredit Holding AG - 68.46% shares, EBRD - 16.67% shares, KfW - 14.87% shares.  -0-