The annual conference InvestPro was attended on June 10-11 in the capital of Azerbaijan by approximately 300 participants from around the world; the conference was organised by one of the leading operators of business events – Bosco Conference – with the financial support of PNB Banka.

InvestPro traditionally focused on the issues of capital management, taxation, asset protection, possible variants of building of international structures, investments and business immigration. Additionally, under the conference, the issues of venture capital funds and attraction of funds for start-ups and IT technologies were discussed in detail.

The delegates expressed a strong interest in the account opening options and work with European banks. In particular, a member of the board of PNB Banka Dmitrii Kalmykov reported on the current requirements and benefits of the banking sector in Latvia. In his report, he highlighted the major trends of the modern financial world, which becomes more and more transparent with every passing year. For instance, an increasing number of countries now join automatic exchange of tax information (CRS). Following the regulators’ instructions, the banks have to request from their customers information on the source of funds, availability of office and employees, mandatory reporting, economic substance, and more. Kalmikov emphasised that today the banks may be also interested in the partners and contractors of their customers. Moreover, the availability of public negative information on a customer is also of concern to the banks.

Out of all PNB Banka’s products and services (in addition to an account itself), Kalmikov singled out financial instruments, noting that they may become an efficient way to preserve capital, since securities are booked off-balance sheet of a bank. He also noted that at a certain risk level, investments in financial instruments may ensure even higher profitability than placement of a deposit. At the same time, PNB Banka has well-developed both brokerage (a customer itself makes a decision on the purchase or sale of a security) and investment funds (funds are managed by experts according to the investment policy of the funds).

In his presentation, Kalmykov reported also on the role of banks in the transactions of purchase and sale of complex assets. As a rule, such transactions include buying of complex assets and shares in a business, sale of real estate and distressed assets, as well as M&A transactions. According to him, lately even advisers of large law firms and auditing companies have been recommending their customers to turn to banks early to confirm the opportunity to conduct the transactions. “Banks should be involved at the earliest stage possible”, stressed Kalmikov.