Kapital Bank is the only bank in Azerbaijan with the State as its sole shareholder. Privatization plans have been unveiled. Can you give the readers of USA Today a brief presentation of the bank?

Until recently the bank was engaged mainly in serving governmental and state-owned entities. Kapital Bank only started 2 years ago to operate as a universal bank when it was granted a full banking license. Our bank is in the process of privatization. In order to develop market relations in the banking sphere president of Azerbaijan signed a decree regarding Kapital bank. The decree dated 1 March 2005 envisages reduction of shares in the ownership capital belonged to the State by 50%. We do our best to prepare the privatization. We went through an audit process and they priced the bank at 60 million US dollars. Compared to 2004, we grew 10 times. Our bank became stronger and more profitable. The first seven months we hit 7 million Manat profit which is a huge achievement.

In 2 years Kapital Bank broke into new markets and rapidly developed its commercial business. What have been the key drivers behind this success?

In December last year, I participated to a forum -"Review of the Russian Banking Sector'' in London. I did a short presentation about Kapital Bank. There were a lot of questions about how we achieved so much in such a short period. One of the drivers was corporate governance. We introduced 52 different procedures. Our management style does not differ from other banks. The bank has been through a re-engineering process in 2004. A new structure has been adopted.

What impact do you think this modernization process has had in terms of raising your competitiveness and increasing your customer satisfaction?

We signed a contract with I-FLEX group. Citibank participates in this program as well; it is one of the best programs in the world. It will help us widen the range of our products. Beyond the cash delivery, ATMs will be used for fast money transfers and just by using cell phones, customers will be able to control their balance. I do not say that it will be in 2 years or 3, but I think we will be the first one to offer it to the market in the nearest future. Kapital Bank wants to be the Citibank of Azerbaijan.

Following President Aliyev's visit to Washington, the relationship between the two countries is entering a new era. US companies operating in Baku are on the rise. To what extent is Kapital Bank is prepared and willing to work with American companies discovering the opportunities in Azerbaijan for the first time?

Actually, we use American ATMs. A bank works in the direction that customers want to work. We know that the USA is one of the largest economic and politic partners of Azerbaijan. Azerbaijan gives very special attention to the relationship with the US. We see many American businessmen working here. Azerbaijan has an open market which attracts businesses. We pay very special attention to the energy and the infrastructure sector, and moreover labor force is cheaper over here. Our economy is fast growing. We can see everyday economic reforms; this is possible because of the country political stability. We need America. It is related to our Nagorno Karabakh problem. It is extremely important for us to restore our territorial integrity and resolve Nagorno Karabakh problem in accordance with the norms of international law. In this aspect Azerbaijan expects American support. I am sure we will develop our relationship and in the future it will be a close and friendly relationship. Although we are a Muslim dominant country, our development style is western.

You have been appointed Chairman of the board in 2004 and you already took the bank through internal transformation and a re-branding process. If there was one mission that you would like to carry out in the bank, which one would it be?

When I was the Vice-President of International Bank of Azerbaijan, we won a tender. One person from Kapital Bank, asked me what I had in mind and what was my ambition. I replied that I wanted to control the open market. They said that beyond International Bank of Azerbaijan, there were 45 banks. To this I replied that if we hadn't this ambition, we wouldn't be the number One. We will see how far we will be successful in Kapital Bank but this is our main goal: be number One.

Thanks !