Strategy and marketing Based upon an assessment of the Bank's strengths and weaknesses and of the threats and opportunities presented by its environment, its strategic market positioning and objectives have been defined, culminating in the realisation of a three year business plan. Current work is centred on implementing an ongoing strategic and marketing planning process and integrating it with operational planning and budgeting processes. Credit Initial work focused on personnel training in credit analysis, assessment and pricing and on the development of standard tools such as checklists, worksheets, credit files, loan applications and reports. A further development has been the definition of a credit policy, manual and procedures and redefinition of Credit Department organisation, functions and workflow. An additional area of involvement, resulting from IBA's selection by EBRD to participate in its SME lending programme for Azerbaijan, has been the definition of the analysis and monitoring of such SME loans.
Current work is largely concerned with the automation of loan monitoring and reporting.
Financial planning and budgeting An analytical Management Information System has been developed, incorporating profit and cost centre and cost allocation key definitions that are to serve as a basis for management accounting, budgeting and control. The current stage is of system automation and implementation. Treasury and asset and liability management Treasury Department structures and organisation have been mapped out, approved and are in the process of implementation. Simultaneously, work is proceeding on the automation of ALM data collection and on implementation of ALM analysis, decision-making and monitoring. The prime emphasis has been on collecting and reviewing all of the Bank's operating procedures in order to identify risks, quantify their impact and cost, determine maximum admissible risk levels and define precautionary and remedial measures.