Tbilisi, Georgia, May 5, 2009
—IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, is helping the Bank of Georgia engage for the first time in interest-rate swap transactions, which could strengthen the Georgian financial system by reducing interest-rate risks during and after the global financial crisis.
IFC and the Bank of Georgia today signed an International Swaps and Derivatives Association (ISDA) Master Agreement that provides the Bank of Georgia an additional risk- management tool, allowing it to hedge U.S.-dollar interest-rate risk on the bank’s outstanding long-term borrowings. The ISDA Master Agreement is the international legal documentation for the execution of risk-management transactions.
“The signing of this agreement with IFC will give Bank of Georgia a powerful additional risk-management tool to fix interest rates on our long-term borrowings at today’s favorable levels”, said Nicholas Enukidze, the Bank of Georgia’s Chairman of the Supervisory Board. “Proactive risk management such as this will help protect our future profits.”
Snezana Stoiljkovic, IFC Director for Central and Eastern Europe, said: “Prudent risk management is critical for banks to protect themselves during the current financial crisis. This agreement with Bank of Georgia shows the high-value-added services that IFC can provide to its clients.” The agreement is part of IFC’s broader strategy to improve risk management capacity within its client banks and introduce innovative products to its clients in Central and Eastern Europe.
About IFC
IFC, a member of the World Bank Group, creates opportunity for people to escape poverty and improve their lives. We foster sustainable economic growth in developing countries by supporting private sector development, mobilizing private capital, and providing advisory and risk mitigation services to businesses and governments. Our new investments totaled $16.2 billion in fiscal 2008, a 34 percent increase over the previous year. For more information, visit
www.ifc.org
.
For more information about the Bank of Georgia, please, visit:
visit
www.bog.ge/ir
.
