Prishtina, 13 March 2006– ProCredit Bank, as the most successful bank in Kosovo, will continue its mission of on the one hand providing services to the clients and offering all banking services, and at the same time taking maximal care of the deposits of clients as guaranteed by the owners of the internationally-renowned ProCredit.
Therefore, we believe that the situation surrounding the Pristina Loans Bank (BKP) will not shake the trust of our clientele, because the operation of ProCredit Bank has clearly shown over the last 6 years seriousness, credibility and safety.
In our loans operations, we focus on giving loans for micro businesses, small and medium businesses, as we are certain that these businesses generate the biggest number of jobs and are vital contributors to the economies in which we operate.
ProCredit Bank explicitly avoids speculative business lines and gives big loans only in special cases, thus avoiding the risk of facing dubious situations.
Moreover, the risk management in our bank is done in cooperation with the “risk department” of ProCredit Holding in Frankfurt am Main and is in line with international risk management standards, which results with very reliable business activities of our bank.
Our owners (shareholders) are all internationally-renowned institutions (The European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, the International Finance Corporation – IFC, Commerzbank, ProCredit Holding, Kreditanstalt fur Wiederaufbau - KFW and Financierigsmaatschappij voor Ontwikkelingslanden - FMO), expect support in returning investments, but are not interested in short-term maximal profit.
Let us recall that last year our bank has met all its expectations and this made our shareholders to expect a return of capital of nearly 35%. As our loans portfolio has increased a lot last year, our shareholders have decided to increase the bank’s capital to over 15 million euros this year.
On the other hand, the total of loans given by ProCredit Bank in 2005 has reached 155 million euros (not including short-term loans – overdrafts) with the maximum allowed for one month to around 18.5 million euros. This year, ProCredit plans to increase the amount of loans to over 200 million euros.
The fact that ProCredit is a stable bank and a leader in the financial market in Kosovo is a guarantee for all our clients and their deposited funds.
In addition, one must also reiterate that ProCredit currently numbers 150.000 clients, with a total amount of deposits of citizens and organizations of over 340 million euros, or 42% of the total deposits in the banking system in Kosovo.
