http://www.finport.am Daily news from Armenia http://www.finport.am/img/logo.gif http://www.finport.am http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201556eng21534.html ArmInfo. Anelik Bank faced no problems with liquidity amid the national dram hyper-devaluation due to the financial support of its owner, Credit Bank S.A.L. (Lebanon), Nerses Karamanukyan, Chairman of Anelik Bank Board, told ArmInfo. "The latest uneasy situation in the financial market of Armenia is characteristic to the countries with transitional economy, but the Central Bank managed to restrain the speculative deals. Anelik Bank like the other Armenians banks could not but feel anxiety over the situation, but it did not affect the normal activity of the bank, which continued to serve its customers on a full scale," Karamanukyan said. He spotlighted the financial assistance by the bank's owner in that difficult period. "Having rich experience of working in instable situation in the Lebanese and Russian financial markets, Credit Bank S.A.L. also consulted Anelik Bank over the situation. This, along with the systematic and reasonable policy of the Central Bank, helped the Bank and the financial market, in general, overcome that destabilization," Karamanukyan said. To note, from Oct through Dec 17 AMD dropped against USD by almost 45%. It was hyper devaluation of the national dram. On 17 December, the average rate reached 570 AMD/1 USD, which saw a real panic. Food prices began to grow, as the national currency devaluated. Sugar, flour, and other prices rose drastically. Many food and other stores refused to sell products since they did not know at what price to sell their products. Howeverm on 17 December, the Central Bank toughened the compulsory reservation standards for the raised funds in foreign exchange from 12% to 24% and already on 18-19 December, the dram appreciated by 25%. Before that, the CB announced on 8 December that it launches daily interventions to restore the balance in the exchange market and soften currency fluctuations. The interventions will last till the end of 2014. Dec 8-17 the CB sold $42mln: $6mln a day Dec 8-12 and $4mln a day Dec 15-17. On December 18-19, the $4 million daily interventions were not demanded by the banks. Nevertheless, the banks carried out forex deals with each other on 18-19 December ($4 million and $5.6 million, respectively). This reduced the interbank rate from 480.12 to 458.01 AMD/1USD. On 1-5 December, the foreign exchange interbank market showed an unprecedented maximum - $59.3 million. Forex transactions on NASDAQ OMX Armenia from June up to 19 December totaled $397.150 million with the exchange rate rising from 407.14 AMD/1 USD to 560 AMD/1 USD and then falling to 442.44 AMD/1 USD. Nearly $117 million of total transactions were made in November. In the period from 1 up to 19 December, transactions were made only trice: on 1 Dec - $3.5 million, on 10 Dec - $100,000 and on 19 December - $450,000, with the exchange rate rising from 438.62 AMD/1 USD to 461 AMD/1 USD and falling to 442.44 AMD/1 USD. In the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia on 20 December the exchange rates (purchase/sale) at the swap points were as follows: 435/465 AMD/1 USD, 525/570 AMD/1 EUR, 7/8.15 AMD/1 RUR. The highest rates at banks on 20 December were as follows: 454/458 AMD/1 USD, 544/565 AMD/1 EUR, and 7.62/7.86 AMD/1 RUR. In October 2013, the majority shareholder of Anelik Bank, Credit Bank S.A.L., Lebanon, became the sole owner of the bank and received the right to Anelik.RU. Since then, retail lending and SME finance have become the Bank's priorities. AnelikRU Moscow branch was alienated in December 2012 and transferred under management of Credit Bank S.A.L. 20 Dec 2014 15:56:00 +0400 http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201648eng21535.html ArmInfo. ProCredit bank is offering a new and very convenient Express Cash in Service to legal entity and private entrepreneur clients. This service is designed for the core business clients and is in force starting from 22nd of December, the bank's press-service told ArmInfo. Service is giving opportunity to the clients to bring cash to the Bank and deposit money on the account without waiting for cash counting. ProCredit Bank being focused on the development of small and medium sized enterprises highly appreciates the time spent by entrepreneurs in the Bank and for this reason the new service is created in order to provide additional service to the clients, who are frequently depositing big amount of cash money on their accounts, and to minimize the time that business client spends in the service point. Brief description of the service: Client should bring the cash in special packages with respective notice regarding client, account number, amount and currency. Bank employee will take the cash from the client and immediately register cash deposit to the client's account. The service can be provided to selective Legal Entity and Private Entrepreneur Based on the signed agreement with the Bank. ProCredit Bank began its operations in Armenia on 5 February 2008 and is part of the international ProCredit group, which is led by ProCredit Holding based in Germany and operates in 11 banks in Eastern Europe and institutions in Latin America as well as in Germany. Both ProCredit Holding and ProCredit Bank Germany are supervised by the German Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), which underscores the reliability and stability of the ProCredit institutions. ProCredit Bank Armenia is a fully-fledged bank with 100% foreign capital, focused on the development of small and medium-sized enterprises, as well as on the promotion of a savings culture among the population. As of 1 October 2014, the capital of the bank totalled 9 bln drams, assets - 57.2 bln drams, loans - 47.7 bln drams. Including 38.7 bln drams SME finance portfolio. The bank is among top 5 banks in the Armenian market by the SME finance portfolio. SME finance accounts for 80% of the total loan portfolio. ProCredit Bank is the leader in the market by this indicator. Net profits of the bank for 9 months of 2014 totalled 330 million drams. 20 Dec 2014 16:48:00 +0400 http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201726eng21536.html ArmInfo. Vigen Barseghyan has been appointed as Acting Director General of Areximbank-Gazprombank Group. According to ArmInfo's reliable sources, the bank's managerial staff may undergo also other changes, particularly, new deputy directors will be appointed. The bank's staff will be finally approved in January, 2015. Vigen Barseghyan - Acting Director General of "AREXIMBANK-GAZPROMBANK GROUP" CJSC. Previously - August 22, 1994 - November 24, 1995 - worked at "Ardshinbank" (Bank for industry and construction) as economist of FX transactions unit. From June 19, 1996 up to July 30, 1998, he worked at "Armeconombank" as senior economist of Credit department. On August 1, 1998 was appointed as "Areximbank-Gazprombank Group" CJSC (Yerevan) Deputy Director General. Areximbank - Gazprombank Group" CJSC has been established in 1998 to support the business and manage financial flows between Russia and Armenia. In Nov 2007, one of the largest Russian banks - "Gazprombank" (Open Joint Stock Company) acquired 80% stake in the bank and increased it to 94.15% in July 2008. In Sept 2008, the bank acquired the remaining 5.85% stake from Raiffeisenbank. 20 Dec 2014 17:26:00 +0400 http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201808eng21537.html ArmInfo. On December 19, INECOBANK received the first US$5mn tranche under the US$10mn loan agreement with EBRD. The bank is expected to finance renewable energy sector and small and medium-sized enterprises (SME). According to INECOBANK press-service, the first tranche will be on-lent to companies for implementation of energy-efficiency and renewable energy projects, as well as to privates in terms of consumer loans. "INECOBANK has been cooperating with EBRD for already ten years and have raised already $45mn loans for SME finance and trade facilitation in Armenia. The new loans not only will help development the SME sector, but also reduce consumption of energy resources, which is very important," says Avetis Baloyan, INECOBANK CEO. According to him, the bank raised $33 million loans from international financial organizations and funds in 2014 and plans to raised $9 million more to finance the SME sector. Eventually, INECOBANK will have been raised $140 million from international financial organization by the end of the year, he said. According to the source, customers who receive loans under the given agreement, will enjoy a 15% cashback due to grants provided by the EBRD. The majority shareholders of the bank are Baloyan Avetis - 35,23%, Safaryan Karen - 30,34%, a member of KfW - Deutsche Investitions-und Entwicklunsgesellschaft mbH (DEG) - 12,58%, (IFC) - 9,32%. The loan portfolio of the Bank grew 23.5% for 2014, while the deposit portfolio grew 19.5%, assets - 10.8%. 20 Dec 2014 18:08:00 +0400 http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201825eng21538.html ArmInfo. In the inter-bank foreign exchange market of Armenia, $1.7mn out of $4mn offer of the Central Bank was in demand today on 20 December. The Central Bank of Armenia (CB) told ArmInfo, the average (indicative) rate totaled 446.76 AMD/1 USD, with the cutoff rate being 445AMD/1USD. On December 18-19, the $4 million daily interventions were not demanded by the banks. Nevertheless, the banks carried out forex deals with each other on 18-19 December ($4 million and $5.6 million, respectively). This reduced the interbank rate from 480.12 to 458.01 AMD/1USD. The CB announced on 8 December that it launches daily interventions to restore the balance in the exchange market and soften currency fluctuations. The interventions will last till the end of 2014. On Dec 8-20, the CB sold $44.7mn: $6mn a day Dec 8-12 and $4mn a day Dec 15-17m and $1.7mn on Dec 20. The average (indicative) exchange rate for the given period rose fro 456.63AMD/1USD to 570.58 AMD/1USD and then fell to 446.76 AMD/1USD, the cutting off rate rose from 455 AMD/1USD to 567.65 AMD/1USD and fell to 445 AMD/1USD. In the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia on 20 December as of 5:00pm, the exchange rates at the swap points were as follows: 455 AMD/1 USD, 555 AMD/1 EUR, 7.8 AMD/1 RUR. The highest rates at banks on 20 December were as follows: 454/458 AMD/1 USD, 544/565 AMD/1 EUR, and 7.62/7.86 AMD/1 RUR. On 1-5 December, the foreign exchange interbank market showed an unprecedented maximum - $59.3 million. Forex transactions on NASDAQ OMX Armenia from June up to 19 December totaled $397.150 million with the exchange rate rising from 407.14 AMD/1 USD to 560 AMD/1 USD and then falling to 442.44 AMD/1 USD. Nearly $117 million of total transactions were made in November. In the retail foreign exchange market of Armenia on 20 December the exchange rates (purchase/sale) at the swap points were as follows: 435/465 AMD/1 USD, 525/570 AMD/1 EUR, 7/8.15 AMD/1 RUR. 20 Dec 2014 18:25:00 +0400 http://www.finport.am/view-archive-201412201851eng21539.html ArmInfo. ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK has announced the results of the draw conducted among the Visa Student cardholders and student loan borrowers. The press service of the Bank has told ArmInfo that the draw winners among the student loan borrowers are Hovik Veranyan, Ruzanna Matevosyan, Robert Simonyan, Ani Hovhannisyan, Narek Margaryan, Lilit Mirzakhanyan, and the winners among the Visa Student cardholders are Hayk Sukiasyan, Juliana Vardanyan, Hasmik Hambaryan, Arusyak Ghukasyan, Arevik Badalyan, Aram Chobanyan. The prizes will be awarded to the cardholders, who submit before 31 Jan 2015 a certificate confirming their studies at a certain university. On December 20, at 10:30 am, ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK held the draw among the Visa Student cardholders and student loan borrowers at Moscow Cinema. The students, who made use of the Bank's student loans from Aug 25 through Dec 19, as well as the most active Visa Student cardholders and those who made at least one operation (payment or cash withdrawal) over the card validity period, took part in the draw. The source says that only the students, who attended the event, took part in the draw. There were 12 prizes, which were awarded at the students' choice. The prizes for the student loan borrowers were: payment of a half-year tuition fee, a notebook or an iPad. The students studying abroad could receive a notebook or an iPad. The prizes for the Visa Student cardholders studying in Armenia were: payment of a half-year tuition fee or a Samsung Galaxy S 5 Mini Duos mobile phone, and the students studying aboard could receive a Samsung Galaxy S 5 Mini Duos. Each draw participant also received a ticket for the "Super MAMA" feature film, which was demonstrated right after the draw. To note, ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK started issuing the student debit accumulative bonus cards in 2010. These cards envisage a number of cultural and educational bonuses. Within the framework of cooperation with ArmenTel CJSC (Beeline Armenia), the cardholders can become Beeline mobile subscribers free of charge and use the Beeline services at a special tariff of 1 AMD per minute and enjoy special tariffs for internet and SMS services. To recall, "ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK" CJSC has been operating in Armenia since 1995. Since September 2006, the majority shareholders of the Bank have been Credit Agricole S.A. (15.56%) and SJSC "Sacam International" (member of Credit Agricole S.A) with a 12.44% stake. By the number of active cards, ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK retains its position in TOP-3, issuing and serving both ArCa local cards and Visa and MasterCard international cards. In October 2011, ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK launched American Express - an absolutely new card product for the Armenian market. 20 Dec 2014 18:51:00 +0400