YEREVAN, October 26. /ARKA/. ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK has presented today a new  website at sme.acba.am to about 200 representatives of various sectors of economy, saying the website is designed as a free and accessible platform to all to manage and promote their business in the online segment.

According to a bank’s press release, the website is the outcome of a cooperation with the International Finance Corporation (IFC). It said the online platform can be used by budding and operating entrepreneurs to load training materials and videos, enjoy a number of business tools and various financial calculators.

The website is also intended to be a special cooperation platform for small and medium-sized businesses, opening up opportunities to them for mutually beneficial partnership.

"We have always been a socially responsible bank, and for this reason we want to have constantly developing customers-partners. It is this desire that has allowed us, after three years of hard work, to get this result," - ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK CEO Hakob Andreasyan is quoted as saying. He said in the future the online platform will expand to involve the agriculture sector.

According to IFC Regional Director for the South Caucasus Jan van Bilsen, creating opportunities for SMEs  is one of the strategic priorities for IFC both globally and in Armenia.

"This new website is the result of joint efforts of the bank and IFC's, the purpose of which is to provide  necessary knowledge to SMEs for growth. The commitment of ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK is to stand at the head of this important initiative,", - he said. The website sme.acba.am will be launched officially in December.

ACBA was established in 1996 as part of EU’s TACIS program. As a result of a long-term and mutually beneficial cooperation between ACBA Bank and the French Credit Agricole the latter became the biggest shareholder of ACBA in 2006, September. ACBA was restructured, becoming a closed joint stock company and was renamed ACBA CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK. -0-