YEREVAN, April 26, /ARKA/. Vahe Vardanian, head of a Central Bank department in charge of financial development and stability, said today last year was marked by growth in financial brokerage rate.
‘The ratio of banking system’s assets to GDP rose by 2.6 percentage point to 44.5%,’ he said at a news conference called to present Central Bank’s repot on financial stability in 2010.
He said if compared to EU member countries, Armenia’s rate is quite low and there is room for rise. He said the banking system’s outstanding credit portfolio grew by 26.3% last year and the ratio of lending to GDP rose by 25.3%.
Vahe Vardanian said also the banking sector was stable, both in terms of solvency and liquidity and at the end of 2010 capital adequacy indicator was 22.2%.
‘The Central Bank considers on a monthly basis separate stress scenarios to asses the possible impact of bad scenarios on the entire system. And even if 30% of the credit portfolio is classified as bad loans the system is capable to engulf all risks and no bank will face solvency problem,’ he said, adding that the liquidity rate is twice the Central Bank’s set ceiling. According to him, it is good in terms of financial stability, but on the other hand it indicates that banks accumulate liquidity because of lack of long-term resources since the majority of individual customers choose short-term deposits.
Twenty-one banks account for 90% of Armenia’s financial system Their total outstanding credit portfolio grew last year to 918 billion Drams from 723.1 billion Drams at the beginning of the year. Their total assets as of December 30, 2010 stood at 1. 567.5 trillion Drams increasing by 16.7% and their combined capital grew by 15.33% to 330.3 billion Drams. -0-
