Deposits of SCB Reach Billion Pounds

DAMASCUS, (ST) – The General Director of the Syrian Commercial Bank (SCB), Ahmed Diab, confirmed that the volume of deposits held by the bank is stable since mid-last year and reached more than 26 percent for the of local liquidity and more than 150 percent of liquidity in foreign currencies according to the international standards,  pointing out that the volume of the bank deposits reached about 324 billion Syrian pounds .

In a statement to SANA he made yesterday, Diab said that the bank had not stopped the practice of his role in the current circumstances experienced by the country, but stopped granting direct loans by Syrian pounds while it continued the issuance of guarantees and financing imports for industrialists, traders and focusing on funding public sector with large sums to ensure necessary materials and essential needs of the citizen.
“The bank is considering the possibility of re-lending amounts of 50 – 100 – 200 -300 thousand Syrian pounds for low-income citizens during the current month,” Mr. Diab said.
He also noted to the role of the bank in the difficult conditions where some of its installations  exposed to sabotage and theft by armed terrorist groups and sabotage ATMs which led to the exit from the service in some governorates, stressing that the sabotage did not prevent the bank from continuing to provide its services to citizens.
On the precautionary measures that followed by the bank to maintain public money, Diab explained that the bank follows a conservative policy in the current circumstances in this area and credit processes through directing all branches to reduce as much as possible of the volume of liquidity and non-existence of concentration of capital, minimizing the transfer of funds, the closure of some branches in unsafe areas that help reducing the risks, continuing in providing service and maintenance of public money.

“The bank defined a roof liquidity for each branch and the need for ATMs after a study of the volume of transactions and the transfer of salaries and giving directors of bank the authority to manage liquidity ratio, the transfer process and dispose of these amounts to reduce the risk rate, feed ATMs in safe areas and follow up the implementation of the process permanently, explaining that the bank has currently 200 ATMs at service,” Mr. Diab pointed out.

 “The main purpose of the bank is to meet the citizen’s satisfaction and provide decent service, especially in light of the current conditions, expressing hope in expanding the services of the bank as they were in the past in line with the evolution of the work of banks in the world,” Diab stressed.

As for the agreement credit facility line between the bank and the Export Development Bank of Iran  with a value estimated at one billion dollars, Mr. Diab  explained that it would contribute significantly to the national economy, pointing out that there are a lot of agreements and contracts signed between the two parties in the sectors of electricity, health and oil.

Sh. Kh.