Interview with Sergey Virabyan, Corporate Business Director of IDBank

-3 months ago IDBank issued a new proposal which was intended for corporate clients. What was the aim of the Bank at and to what extent are the expectations justified?
-First, let me briefly remind the idea of our offer: RA resident legal entities and private entrepreneurs have a chance to open a bank account for free, receive free servicing and make transfers via SWIFT system through Our option quite free of charge in USD, EUR, RUB or GEL. Within the scope of the offer the RA entrepreneurs can receive loans in USD at annual interest rate starting from 6.9% and in AMD at annual interest rate starting from 10%.
While developing this offer we intended to give an opportunity to entrepreneurs registered in the RA to perform the main payment and settlement services free of charge and then, after estimating the service quality, speed and comfort, become the Bank’s client-partner, if satisfied.
I would like to mention that the term of this offer is 6 months, until December 30. But, revealing a secret, I will mention that after analyzing the interest among clients, we are currently discussing the question of extending the term of the offer.

-As we know today many banks and organizations, while advertising their products or services, offer services with no commission fees or at 0% interest rate, but we understand that these are marketing tricks. How would you explain the fact that the services within the scope of the offer will be provided free of charge? Isn’t it another marketing trick and are there any hidden expenses?
-You know, what we did is a very simple thing, as I have already mentioned, our principle is mutual benefit and the establishment of partnership, thus, we preferred to bear the incurred expenses giving an opportunity to the RA entrepreneurs to get to know the Bank. A very simple and clear approach.

-What is the feedback received from clients in terms of the mentioned services? Do you notice activeness among the target group, is there a quantitative growth indicator?
-It is worth mentioning, that starting from June we have been performing monitoring on a weekly basis, and I can state that we have rapid growth both in terms of the number of corporate client accounts and the volume of monetary transfers.
I also want to mention that we also have activation in the sphere of lending, especially in the SME lending segment.

-Doesn’t that mean that IDBank chose the direction of SME support, and does it also include business expansion support?
-You know, I don’t really like the word “support” in this context. Let me explain: the Bank, just like entrepreneurs, is a profit-making organization, and it will be right to say that we are working based on the principle of mutual profit and partnership. Our employees perform market research and analyses on a daily basis, make adjustments in the products and services offered by the Bank to maximally meet  the client’s requirements․ IDBank aims to provide a wide range of banking services, offer comprehensive services, in order to, I’ll repeat that, build Bank-client relations on a partnership basis. 

-It is no secret that in the current banking competitive environment  the banks try to stand out with their offers which imply individual approach to clients. To what extent does IDBank consider those trends while offering new products?
-Thank you for the question since I find individual work with clients rather important. Based on the many years of my experience in banking I can definitely state that both Armenian banking and corporate market, both banking and corporate, is so unique and competitive that every corporate client demands individual approach and attitude, and, by all means, IDBank has the institute of individual manager. Each client, based on the peculiarities of his business, receives individual approach and attitude, and that’s the way it has to be.

-After the turbulent rebranding period when the Bank is already known by its new name, can we expect introduction of more active working programs? Is there anything new that you plan to offer the Bank’s corporate clients?
-The Bank already offers a very wide range of banking products and services to its clients, which, as I already mentioned, are constantly improved and adjusted to the market requirements. Quite recently the Bank signed a memorandum with the Export Insurance Agency of Armenia, we have been cooperating with the German-Armenian Fund for more than 10 years, and many other institutions. As a result of cooperation with those institutions the Bank can offer products at quite beneficial terms. I would also like to mention that the work in this direction are carried out constantly and continuously, finding new partners to satisfy clients with new services and to facilitate smooth business process.