Gazprombank joins Speech Technology Center

MOSCOW, September 5. Gazprombank Group, one of the largest banking organizations in Europe, became one of the major shareholders in Speech Technology Center, the Russia based developer of biometric, audio analysis and recording technologies.

«STC achieved extraordinary growth throughout the last decade. We grew in excess of 25 times over and from a group of enthusiasts became one of the leading voice biometric and audio analysis companies. However we have a much bigger goal of becoming a true global leader in the biometric marketplace, ASR and TTS technologies. We are very much excited to welcome a new partner that shares our ambitions and is willing to assist us in reaching them.» stated Mikhail Khitrov, STC President. «STC is a unique company. Our key competitive advantage is one of the strongest (150 specialists strong) R&D teams in the world in the voice analysis field. Due to our unique expertise we can constantly achieve results and develop technologies that no one else can». Khitrov added, «Our immediate task is to capitalize this potential and turn our R&D advantage into global market leadership. The team at Gazprombank shares our ambitions and has all necessary tools to help us in this quest.»

«Voice biometrics, ASR and TTS technologies show enormous potential in the high-tech economy,» said Vladimir Rumyantsev, Managing Director of Gazprombank’s Media, Telecom, Internet and High-Tech Industries Division. «Even though STC is already a leader in high-tech innovation, the bank is happy to support the company as it makes a move to a new level of excellence and commercial viability. STC has a cutting-edge research team, an experienced managerial team, and its own product line, deployed in more than 70 countries. Our plan is to help the company meet its growth objectives. We’re excited about working with one of the most promising and forward-looking companies in this sector of innovation economy.»

STC’s success in attracting a major investment partner in Gazprombank is a testament to its unique development strategy, which differs from that of several players on the speech technology market. While other competitors have merged with bigger companies and ceased to exist STC’s investment partnership ensures that the company remains a strong, independent player in this sector for years to come.

About Gazprombank
Gazprombank has successfully operated in the banking market since 1990. Founded by the world’s largest gas producer and exporter Gazprom to provide banking services for gas industry enterprises, Gazprombank has since become a leader in the banking sector, which key performance indicators place the Bank among the top three banks of Russia. Gazprombank invests and lends to companies in major sectors of the economy — oil and petrochemical industry, metallurgy, machine building, nuclear industry, electric power industry, real estate construction, transport, telecommunications and trade.
At present, Gazprombank operates 8 subsidiary and affiliated banks in Russia, Belarus, Switzerland and Armenia, representative offices in China, Mongolia and India, and also 43 own branches across Russia from Kaliningrad in the west to Youzhno-Sakhalinsk in the east. The total number of offices delivering customer friendly high-quality banking and depository services under the single brand name of Gazprombank exceeds 500.