YEREVAN, September 26. /ARKA/. In an interview with ‘Golos Armenii’ Russian-language newspaper, the ex-president of the Union of Banks of Armenia Samvel Chzmachyan said the most important task of Armenian commercial banks in recent years was to replenish their capital to meet the new minimum capital requirements established by the Central Bank.
He said the banking system of the country resolved the task quite successfully as only 4 commercial banks ‘were lost’ on that way which had to merge with bigger ones.
He said the remaining 17 commercial banks cleared their balances of bad loans and now, after becoming larger it will be easier for them to technically modernize, lend to sufficiently large business projects, etc. Chzmachyan believes that there are still many problems in the banking system, in particular legislative, judicial, tax and other, which require daily work.
“The ratio of income to capital and assets, the so-called ROE and ROA, is still low, but the signs of economic recovery along with currency stability serve as a sufficient basis for overcoming all problems,” he said.
According to the Central Bank, the return on assets (ROA) at the end of July was 1%, and the return on equity (ROE) was 6.1%. To date, 17 commercial banks operate in Armenia, which have 10,900 people on their payrolls. -0-
