HISTORY

Bank with a clearly defined strategy

Export and Credit Bank Inc., Skopje (EC Bank) was established on 15.03.1993 as a joint stock company. It has received full banking license in the Republic of Macedonia on the basis of the Decision No 02-15/x-5/93 by the National Bank of Republic of Macedonia (NBRM). In the local market EC Bank is known with its Macedonian official and brand names as "Izvozna i Kreditna Banka AD, Skopje" and "IK Banka" respectively.

EC bank performs universal banking operations in the Republic of Macedonia, including but not limited to, deposit collection, corporate and retail lending, foreign exchange operations, domestic and foreign payments, trading of fixed income instruments, and trade finance. The bank does
not operate in any other jurisdictions than Macedonia.

Since its foundation, the bank has pioneered significant achievements and developments in the Macedonian banking industry. It introduced the international systems of quality management EN ISO 9001:2000 and information security ISO 27001/2005, becoming the first bank in Macedonia to be
certified by these prestige standards of operation. EC Bank is also the first Macedonian agent of
Western Union Money Transfer System from USA for services related to quick money transfer transactions from and towards the country and abroad.

The Bank has a wide international network, which includes correspondent relationships with 339 banks and account relationships with 17 foreign banks.

Being one of the mid-sized banks of the country, as it is classified by the NBRM, EC Bank has a significant reputation and recognition as an SME bank in the Macedonian market. EC Bank has also been enjoying long term relationships with international financial institutions in providing long term development funds to the Macedonian economy.

Among these international financial institutions, EBRD can be marked as a significant shareholder since May 2000 and an important business partner for improving the organizational quality of the bank to the international standards in recent years.

With recent developments in its business size and the improving competition environment of the Macedonian economy, EC Bank started to attract attention from prospective international banks for investment opportunities. Noting that the existing fragmented shareholding structure could hinder the progress of the bank due to prospective scale and diversity of future activities, the shareholders of the bank decided to investigate possibilities of engaging in a long term strategic partnership with a
solid financial institution. As such, it was intended to consolidate the shareholding structure and bring
further financial support and know-how to the bank in its path to growth, as drafted out in the previous
strategic plans.

At the end of due diligence processes, Demir-Halk Bank (Nederland) N.V. (DHB Bank) was chosen by the previous controlling bodies of the bank as a candidate future majority shareholder.

In this respect, on 16 May 2008 DHB Bank signed a Share Purchase Agreement with the consortium of previous shareholders representing the majority of shares in Export and Credit Bank AD, Skopje. Further to the completion of necessary procedures and approval of banking authorities in the Netherlands and Republic of Macedonia, share transfers were concluded between the consortium and DHB Bank, which resulted ultimately with the transfer of 66.56% of the shares of EC Bank to DHB Bank.