YEREVAN, April 18. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Araratbank and Black Sea Trade and Development Bank (BSTDB) signed a loan agreement worth $7 million, the press office of Araratbank told ARKA Agency.
The loan will be used for business projects in manufacturing, trade, service and agriculture, according to the report.
Loans will be extended to businesses for up to 5 years at an annual interest rate of 12% to 14%.
This is the first project of cooperation between the two banks. It will help Araratbank expand its loan portfolio in micro and small-sized business lending, according to the report.
Araratbank, previously called Haykap Bank, was founded in 1991 and provides a full range of banking services to corporate, MSME and retail customers. The bank has established a reputation as a small but reliable and dynamically growing financial institution. EBRD holds 25% in Araratbank. The majority stake is held by Barsegh Beglarian, head of the biggest petrol importing company Flash.
As of the first quarter 2013, the bank’s assets rose by 1.6% to 115.5 billion drams. Its loan investments were 57.5bln drams (7.1% increase) and fixed deposits totaled 23.1bln drams in the bank (14.5% increase). In the period, Araratbank’s total capital amounted to 17.4bln drams and liabilities were 98.1bln drams. The bank’s net profit was 729mln drams in the first quarter. –0—0-
