Dmitry Pankin: BSTDB’s new strategy will focus on green energy

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) has prepared a new strategy and has already proposed it for consideration by the bank’s shareholders, BSTDB President Dmitry Pankin said in an interview with TASS, Report informs referring to Prime agency.

“This month, we will submit it to the bank’s council for approval,” Pankin said.

He said that the main highlight of the new strategy includes abandoning the traditional model of the bank: “The traditional model is to find a project, credit it and keep it on the balance sheet until the loan is repaid.

Now the availability of money has increased significantly with the decline in interest rates. This increases the importance of the project preparation stage.

“The most important thing now is to assess all the risks, correctly structure the project, select all the consultants correctly, choose the most suitable insurance schemes, conduct an examination of all possible risks and choose a legal scheme for working with the project. The idea is to launch projects, sell them. With limited growth in the bank’s capital, its activity should increase, the growth of new projects should come from sale. Also, an important point of the new strategy is the emphasis on ‘green’ energy,” he added.

The Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB), an international financial institution with headquarters in Thessaloniki, Greece, was established by Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Bulgaria, Georgia, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Turkey, and Ukraine. BSTDB started operations in June 1999 and has an authorized capital of €3.45 billion. The bank supports economic development and regional cooperation in the Black Sea Region through trade and project finance lending, guarantees, and equity participation in private enterprises and public entities in the member countries. BSTDB is rated A-/A-2 by Standard & Poor’s and A2/P1 by Moody’s.

The portfolio of signed agreements on 39 projects in Azerbaijan is about 474.8 million euros, 34.83 percent of which are directed to the energy sector.