The milestones of Belarusbank’s development:
1922 - The savings banks were established by a resolution of the Soviet of People`s Commissars of the RSFSR on the 26th of December. Their main aim was to provide facilities for a safe keeping of people`s spare money. The savings bank was part of a new economic policy and monetary reform of 1922 - 1924, and the savings of people started to be used as a major source of financing for the country`s industrialization processes.
1923 - The Principal Savings Bank number 16 was established in Minsk to manage the development of the savings business in Belarus.
1927 - Reception of taxes, duties and payments, as well as utilities payments by savings banks from the population
1930 - Establishment of the savings banks management body – Main Board of State Savings-banks and State Credit of the BSSR
1933 - More than 1000 savings banks operating
1933-1941 - Further expansion of network of savings banks on the BSSR territory
1945-1951 - Reconstruction of savings banks system, expansion into rural area
1948 - New Statute of savings banks, savings banks system was subordinated to the Ministry of Finance of BSSR
1951-1962 - Expansion of s avings banks functions, development of non-cash settlements
1962 - Savings banks system was subordinated to the State Bank of the USSR
1962-1987 - Automation of the bank
1994-1996 - Development project within the framework of the institutional loan of the World Bank
1995 - Transformation into JSSB Belarusbank. The first international audit by Coopers&Lybrand
1996 - Acquisition of Belsviazbank and Belzheldorbank. Principal member of Europay Int. (Presently MasterCard Int.)
1997 - Opening of the Representative offices in Russia and Poland
1998 - The Government of the Republic of Belarus selected Belarusbank as an authorized bank to implement government housing and agriculture development programs. A new activity was to implement the revenue part of the government budget within the system of one bank and to set up a single mechanism of collecting and reporting payments to the budget.
1999 - First international rating by Thomson Financial BankWatch
2000 - Principal member of VISA Int.
2001 - Opening of the first foreign credit line without sovereign guarantee in favour of foreign lender
2003 - Opening of the Representative office in Germany
2004 - Issue of the 1 000 000th banking card
2005 - Issue of the 1 500 000th banking card
2006 - Attraction of the First Syndicated Loan
Belarusbank became a member of the International Forfaiting Association
Issue of the 2 000 000th banking card
2007 - First issue of mortgage bonds on the local market
First issue of loan participation notes
Opening of the Representative office in China
2008 - Belarusbank won the international festival-contest “Choice of the Year 2007” in the nomination “Banks” receiving the highest grades among Belarusian banks.
As of 19 February 2008, the volume of mortgage-covered bonds placed by the Bank exceeded USD100 mln in equivalent.
In March 2008, the Bank introduced foreign exchange transactions in the currency of the People’s Bank of China.
In May 2008, the Bank put in place a 900th infokiosk.
As of 1 June 2008, the volume of funds deposited by physical persons with Belarusbank stood at BYR 7.3 trln.
As of 5 June 2008, the volume of the Bank’s outstanding bonds exceeded BYR250 bn.
The Bank started to take deposits in China’s yuans into the term foreign currency account “Universal” on 9 June 2008.
2009
On 9 January 2009, Belarusbank started construction of its administrative building at Dzerzhinski av., Minsk.
In March, Belarusbank was recognized as the best bank of the world in terms of client servicing via Western Union in 2008.
In March, Belarusbank and the Warsaw Stock Exchange signed an Agreement on Cooperation in Warsaw, providing Belarusian companies with an access to the international capital market.
The Bank implemented an express money orders system for individuals without opening an account (BLIZKO OAO AKB "Svyaz-bank", Moscow).
The implementation of the archive of electronic memorial documents (AEMD) and electronic document turnover has allowed the Bank to place around 50% of the day's accounting documents into the AEMD (an average figure for 2009).
The Bank participated in financing of investment projects to develop the cement industry - PRUP "Belarusian Cement Plant", PRUP "Krichevzementnoshifer" and OAO "Krasnoselskstroimaterialy".
In June, the Bank started to provide export loans to non-residents of the Republic of Belarus as part of the Decree No. 534 of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated 25.08.2006 "On Promotion of the Export of Goods (Works, Services)".
In June, the Bank started to purchase bonds issued by corporate entities.
The number of trade and service outlets implementing the discount program for plastic card holders together with the Bank was more than 100 in June.
The General Shareholders' Meeting approved the Corporate Governance Code for the Bank.
The Bank started to purchase minted bars of precious metals in all regional centers of the country.
The Bank started to sell certified brilliants through its organizational units.
A Loan Agreement between Belarusbank and AKA Ausfuhrkredit-Gesellschaft mbH (Germany) for more than EUR 34.0 million was signed in Frankfurt-am-Main.
The Banker magazine pointed to the dynamic development of the Bank by moving it 175 positions up in the Top 1000 World Banks - the Bank ranks 452nd among the largest banks of the world.
The internationally recognized financial publication Global Finance gave the Bank the title of the Best Bank of the Republic of Belarus in 2009.
For the second year in a row, the Bank won the international competition Choice of the Year as Bank No. 1 among Belarusian banks.
The Bank's press service won the country-wide public relations competition as the Best Press Service of the Year and was awarded the diploma "PRemia - 2008".
The Bank issued a new card product in October - ÁåëÊàðò-M and Visa Electron chip savings cards.
The Bank put into operation an 1 500th infokiosk in October.
In October, Belarusbank became the first Belarusian bank to start the refinancing of mortgage-backed loan debt of its customers using uncertified mortgages.
Retail deposits in equivalent of all currencies reached BYR 10 trillion in November.
As of 1 December, the volume of Belarusbank's outstanding bonds was more than BYR 1 trillion.
The Bank obtained an e-commerce license from Visa International in December.
During the year, the Bank put into operation the new premises for branches No. 113 in Kobrin and No. 624 in Stolbtsy, and for banking services center No. 415 in Mosty.
At the end of 2009, 1287 outlets of the Bank (around 70% of all outlets of the Bank) were connected to the centralized data warehouse for individuals (ÖÕÄ ÔË), providing individuals with a possibility to use their deposit accounts in any region of the country regardless of where an account was opened.
From January through December 2009, the outstanding debt on loans provided to residents of the Republic of Belarus increased to BYR 10.7 trillion (835,000 of running contracts).
The Bank lent more than BYR 3 trln and commissioned more than 30,000 flats with a total area of 2.3 mln sq. m. as part of the government housing program.
2010
In August, Belarusbank acted as lead arranger of the debut issue of sovereign Eurobonds of the Republic of Belarus.
In September, for the first time in the history of the banking system there was signed a tripartite Framework Agreement with French and Belgian banks. Beneficial cooperation was established with banks of more than 30 countries. The leading countries were Germany, Switzerland, China, Poland and Turkey.
For three years in succession Joint Stock Company ‘Savings Bank "Belarusbank" was acknowledged as the leader in the category "No.1 Bank" in Belarus at the International Festival Competition "Choice of the Year".
In November, 2010, Belarusbank represented new investment and business opportunities of the Republic of Belarus at the Tokyo conference.
In November, investment and business opportunities of Belarusbank were also presented at the Belarusian Investment Forum in Frankfurt-am-Main.
In December 2010, Belarusbank attracted the largest syndicated loan in the history of the Belarusian banking system for USD 145 million, that proves the excellent reputation and credit history of the bank.
Consistent and systematic work of Belarusbank in 2010 allowed to make a profit of BYR 510.6 billion, which amounts to 30% of the profits of the entire banking system of the Republic of Belarus.
Correspondent account in RMB was opened with Agricultural Bank of China (Shanghai branch), which made it possible to effect the first FX transaction of buying RMB for USD.
For the first time Belarusbank entered into agreements on financing foreign trade transactions with customers beyond trade finance transactions with Novikombank (Russia), Petrocommerce (Russia), Bank of Moscow (Russia).
For its excellent work Belarusbank received the quality certificate of issuing payment orders in SWIFT-format from Standard Chartered Bank.
The volume of trade finance transactions exceeded USD 1.3 billion in equivalent.
The number of international bank transfers of individuals increased by 70% compared to 2009.
Utilization level of open trade finance credit lines was 76%.
As of 01.01.2011 there were opened:
• 71 Nostro accounts in 39 correspondent banks in 15 countries in 16 types of currencies,
• 105 Loro accounts, 85 of which - in the name of 26 resident banks and 20 - in the name of 18 non-resident banks in 18 types of currencies.
The share of Belarusbank in servicing foreign trade turnover of the enterprises of the country reached 29%.
The Bank issued over 4 billion plastic cards. As of January 1, 2010 4.9 million cards have been in circulation, including 2 million cards of the domestic card payment system "BelCard".
The volume of FX transactions effected by the customers of Belarusbank and by the bank itself exceeded USD 5 billion in equivalent.
For the first time in the history of Belarus the Director of Plastic cards department Anatoliy Bogovik became the only representative of our country among 12 thousand participants of the Olympic flame and torch relay, which precedes the XXI Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver (Canada).
2011
According to the Decree of the President of the Republic of Belarus dated December 27, 2010 the authorized fund of Belarusbank has been increased by 1 trillion Belarusian rubles.
The balance of funds raised through sale of bank bonds to companies and individuals exceeded 1 billion US dollars as of February 11, 2011.
A presentation by Belarusbank on the topic "Financing of investment projects by foreign facilities: results in 2010 and projects for 2011" was held on March 24 in Frankfurt am Main resulting in loan agreements signed with German banks.
In April the internationally acclaimed financial magazine Emeafinance while naming the best commercial and investment banks in Central and Eastern Europe and in CIS in 2010 for the second time running declared Belarusbank the best in three nominations - the best bank in the Republic of Belarus, the best investment bank and the best broker.
Global Finance magazine also recognized Belarusbank as the best bank of the developing market of Central and Eastern Europe.
The share of Belarusbank in the total volume of loans to individuals of the whole banking system of the country is 70%. Over 800 thousand people are among its borrowers.
International rating agency Standard & Poor's assigned the counterparty long and short initial "B/B" rating on foreign exchange liabilities and national currency liabilities to Belarusbank with a "Negative" forecast.
The balance of funds raised through sale of bank bonds to companies and individuals exceeded 5 trillion rubles (in equivalent).
Trade Finance international publication named the project on financing of the contract between Belarusian railway company and Stadler Bussnang AG (Switzerland) the Project of the year 2010 in Belarus.
Based on market research of consumer preferences and opinions of experts the Committee of the International Festival-Competition "Choice of the Year 2010" for the fourth consecutive year named Belarusbank the winner in nomination "The bank number 1" in Belarus in 2010.
High level of automated processing of payments in Belarusbank (STP-Straight Through Processing) was awarded "For high quality payments" by VTB Bank (Deutschland) AG, Germany.
Belarusbank with its assets amounting to 17.6 billion US dollars as of January 1, 2011 was recognized the largest non-Russian lending institution in the top 100 largest banks in CIS in terms of assets which made it possible for the bank to enter the top ten banks in CIS.
Nadezhda Ermakova, the Chairperson of the Board of Belarusbank, was appointed the Chairperson of the Board of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus by Presidential Decree dated July 27, 2011.
According to the review by the authoritative banking and financial markets publication, The Banker, Belarusbank took 441 place among 1000 largest banks in the world in 2010 and is among the 25 largest banks in Central and Eastern Europe as to the size of Tier I capital.
Belarusbank reached another significant milestone in card business in August by installing the 1000-th ATM in Belarus.
Belarusbank successfully conducted the first foreign trade transaction on obtaining by a Belarusian client of revenue in Chinese yuan for the goods supplied to a Chinese partner.
In October the depositary of Belarusbank servicing over 970 joint stock companies celebrated 15th anniversary of its establishment.
On October 21, 2011 the President of the Republic of Belarus considered personnel matters and agreed to the appointment of Sergei Pisarik the Chairman of the Board of Belarusbank.
Belarusbank proved out its leadership in the development of cashless payments using bank cards, installing 20000 terminals and 2000 infokiosks in the Republic of Belarus.
On November 15 the Contact center of Belarusbank celebrated its first year of existence. The number 147 has become popular among customers.
In December the international rating agency Standard & Poor's affirmed the credit ratings of Belarusbank at "B-/C", forecast - negative, leaving them at the level of sovereign rating of the Republic of Belarus.
The Western Union Company nominated Belarusbank for the "long-term cooperation".
