YEREVAN, November 7. /ARKA/. In recent years, Armenia’s banking sector has significantly improved its resilience in terms of financial stability, said Martin Galstyan, Chairman of the Central Bank.
‘Our policy has focused on consolidating the positive results of previous years and building resources to address potential risks in the future,” he said on Thursday at the forum “Regional Challenges and Opportunities in Cooperation with European Banks.
Galstyan explained that, according to the Central Bank’s decision, part of the banks’ profits was allocated to building a countercyclical capital buffer, which was raised to 1.75%.
According to him, the current growth of the loan portfolio is largely driven by the significant increase in loans to households and the construction sector.
“According to our estimates, the banking system is characterized by high levels of capital adequacy and liquidity, which ensures a high and stable level of its stability,” emphasized the head of the regulator.
According to the reports of Armenian banks, published in accordance with IFRS, the net profit of the banks in January-September 2024 exceeded 267.6 billion drams, marking a 25% increase compared to the same period last year.
As of the end of September, the total assets of Armenian banks amounted to 10,144.1 billion drams, reflecting a 10.5% increase compared to the beginning of the year, and a 4.3% increase in the third quarter.
The volume of bank credit investments, excluding reserves, totaled 5,758.4 billion drams, marking a 14.5% rise since the beginning of the year.
Total liabilities for the 9 months increased by 9.1%, reaching 8,404.7 billion drams, with customer liabilities accounting for 5,914.0 billion drams, up 7.2% from the start of the year. The total capital of Armenian banks amounted to 1,739.4 billion drams, growing by 17.8% since the beginning of the year. -0-
