Armenian Ameriabank plans consolidation deals in next two years

YEREVAN, October 23. / ARKA /. Tigran Jrbashyan, Ameriabank marketing director, said to a news conference today that the bank plans consolidation deals in the next couple of years.

"We expect that in the next one- two years there will be pretty serious deals in Armenia’s banking sector, both in terms of standards put forth by the regulator under Basel 3, and in terms of securing further development", he said at a news conference on Tuesday. In this regard Jrbashyan explained that some Armenian banks are already being forced to limit lending because of the insufficient level of capital.

According to the regulations of the Central Bank of Armenia, the minimum regulatory capital adequacy requirement is 12%. According to interim financial statements of the Armenian banks in the first half of 2012 the figure was higher. Thus for 15 banks it was more than 15%, while for 6 banks it was between 12.21% and 15%.

Jrbashyan said Ameriabank has planned an ambitious program for the next year and is currently elaborating its business plan as part of its strategy. He added that the bank intends to maintain and achieve grater growth rate.

Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and retail banking services in the form of a comprehensive package of banking solutions. It is the first investment bank in Armenia providing since 2007 a wide range of innovative banking services. The bank has nine branches n Armenia and Nagorno-Karabakh. In 2010, it took over the Cascade Bank.-0-