Constanta gets license, begins full-range banking

Georgia’s central bank gave Constanta JSC a banking license on July 3, the company announced yesterday.

Constanta has previously worked in Georgia for more than a decade, mostly as a micro-financing foundation, lending to several thousand small businesses.

At the end of last year, the Constanta foundation reorganized itself into a JSC to transition into a full-range bank. It is establishing flexible credit lines and opening 21 branches, including six in the capital.

Spokesman Mamuka Kakhniashvili says the bank has more than 300 employees and branches in every Georgia region except separatist Abkhazia and South Ossetia.

Constanta director Levan Lebanidze said the bank is seeking to improve Georgians’ welfare.

While acknowledging what some in the industry call an overcrowded field, the bank director said the presence of many banks in Georgia breeds healthy competition.

Constanta counts 15 000 clients, with capital assets at GEL 15.7 million and a credit portfolio of GEL 53 million.