YEREVAN, August 30. /ARKA/. Trade lending by Armenia’s commercial banks shrank by 1.5% to about 346.9 billion drams as of the end of June 2013, compared to the quarter before.
According to interim financial reports released by the banks, loans and other borrowings stood at over 1,677.1 billion drams as of the end of June compared to 1,646.6 billion drams in the first quarter.
An analysis by ARKA showed Bank VTB (Armenia) is the leader in trade lending: its trade loans accounted for 11.9% of the total trade lending by banks and were more than 41.6 billion drams (35.7bln drams at the end of Q1) or over 21.4% of the bank’s loan portfolio.
Among other leaders were HSBC Bank Armenia (about 40.5bln drams), Ameriabank (about 32.2bln drams), Inecobank (about 30.7bln drams) and Araratbank (about 26.3bln drams).
Trade lending accounted for 29.1%, 19.2%, 38.9% and 44.9% of these banks’ credit portfolios respectively.
As of the end of June there were 21 banks with 478 branches in Armenia. ($1=405.91drams).–0—
