Georgia

Standard Bank

A majority stake of Agro Business Bank of Georgia was acquired by Salford from European Community in 2005. At the time of the acquisition the bank was focused almost exclusively on niche agro business lending and had a minimal presence in the Georgian Banking sector.

Since acquisition the bank has been completely restructured into a full service Georgian bank. Restructuring included re-branding (Standard Bank), aggressive branch network expansion, launch of new retail and commercial banking products; credit cards, retail deposits and SME and retail lending. Since acquisition the branch network has grown to over 15 branches with total branches to be in excess of 30 by year end 2007. In the past two years loan and deposit growth has been 8.0x and 10.0x respectively whilst maintaining regulatory capital ratios that are in excess of international and Georgian requirements.

Today Standard Bank is one of the fastest growing banks in Georgia and is the 7 th largest bank in Georgia in terms of assets.

Website: www.standardbank.ge