Azernews.Az

Leading international business and consultancy company The Business Year (TBY) and the owner of Royal Bank, Ali Jam, have held a business meeting to discuss the achievements of the financial institution over the last few years, new business strategies, and the opportunities Royal Bank sees to continue its impressive growth over the last five years.

Jam stated that Royal Bank, whose assets are close to $250 million, is already implementing a new business strategy in which the bank will be focusing on the credit card business, consolidating the important achievements of the institution, and further develop its regional presence.

The owner of Royal Bank, who met with TBY Country Manager Gulay Sultan and Country Editor Ruben Martinez, also talked about the bank’s activity since he acquired the institution in 2003, which has been mainly focusing in retail business. "We have increased our penetration in the Azerbaijani society and nowadays we have 32 branches and more than 630 employees. W grew 207% in 2007, 179% in 2008, 89% in 2009, and then due to the crisis in the banking sector we focused on consolidating our achievements." Other topics included the institution’s strategies abroad; Royal Bank has opened its first sister company in Dubai, Royal investment Bank. Royal Bank wants to become a regional institution and is already eyeing other potential markets in which to expand its activities. "The launch of Royal Investment Bank is basically a way for us to gain more experience from the banking sector in the Middle East and expand our vision to North Africa as well. It is important for us to think regionally rather than locally," Jam said.

After the success of TBY’s first publication on the Azerbaijan’s economy, its research team is back in the country preparing a 2012 edition. The team is in the process of conducting more than 150 face-to-face interviews with Azerbaijan’s top decision makers to better understand and more accurately reflect the business sentiment in the country.

The research will be published in The Business Year: Azerbaijan 2012, and will be one of the most comprehensive reviews of the Azerbaijani economy published internationally. The target readership of the publication includes top executives, policy makers, and media representatives around the world.