YEREVAN, June 17. /ARKA/. In 2015 Araratbank earned 942 million drams in net profit, the chairman of the bank’s board Ashot Osipyan told an annual meeting of shareholders today.
“In 2015 we learned to work in difficult conditions and our efforts were acknowledged by The Global Finance and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD),” Osipyan said.
According to deputy board chairman Davit Harutyunyan, in 2015 the bank’s assets decreased by 4.6% to 132 billion drams after a major client withdrew his funds.
He said credit investments of the bank last year increased by 0.15% to about 66 billion drams, liabilities amounted to 110 billion drams and the capital increased by 3.7% to 22.4 billion drams due to retained earnings.
He also noted that the book value per share grew to 17,590 drams against nominal value of 5,000 drams.
The bank plans to earn this year 800 million drams in net profit , Ashot Osipyan said, down from 942 million earned in 2015.
“The reduced forecast stems from our conservative policy. We use a very high risk management system. The most important thing for us is to preserve stability and secure the bank against all possible risks,” Osipyan said.
According to Vakhtang Abrahamyan , deputy chairman of the Central Bank, Araratbank has been demonstrating steady growth over the last years. Particularly, over the past 5 years its assets increased by 16%, deposits and lending rates grew by 20 % with about 50% of the bank’s assets being channeled into financing the economy.
“Araratbank is one of the best banks in Armenia in terms of loan repayment, which means effective management”, said Abrahamyan.-0-
Araratbank founded in 1991 is owned by Flash Company (64.25%), EBRD (25%) and RURAL IMPULSE FUND II SA SICAV SIF (10%). Araratbank joined NASDAQ OMX Armenia in 2009 January.
In the first quarter of 2016, the bank’s assets stood at 130.6 billion drams (a decline of 1% since the beginning of the year; liabilities stood at 107.9 billion drams (a decline of 1.45%), total capital was worth 22.7 billion drams (up 1%) and profit for the first quarter was 176.7 million drams. ($1- 477. 86 drams). -0-
