YEREVAN, February 3. /ARКА/. In recent years, a significant portion of Armenia’s banking system profits has been generated by exportable banking services, according to Martin Galstyan, the chairman of the Central Bank.
“This means that not only Armenian residents but also non-residents use these services. This phenomenon did not exist in Armenia before 2022. If we track the dynamics, we can see that the growth of banking system profits is accompanied by the introduction of these practices,” he said at a press conference on Tuesday.
Galstyan also considered it positive that Armenia’s banking system generates profits by providing competitive services in demand by foreign clients.
The head of the regulator also noted that a significant portion of profits is not generated by an increase in the interest margin.
“Changes in the margin between interest on borrowed funds and issued loans are not significant.There is an increase in profits driven by demand, but it’s a small amount,” he explained.
According to him, the main change is related to the growth in income from interest-free services, primarily in the context of non-resident transactions. This includes account openings, fund transfers, and currency conversions.
In this regard, Galstyan reported that the Central Bank is working on creating alternative tools to reduce customer costs, including high fees for card-to-card or inter-account transfers.
“The ARCA Pay system was created for this purpose,” he noted, explaining that funds transferred via a mobile app between banks connected to the system will be charged zero.
According to him, nine banks are currently connected to the system, and the process of joining several more is ongoing.
According to the ARKA news agency’s ranking, compiled based on banks’ financial statements, the net profit of Armenia’s banking system in 2025 amounted to 421.3 billion drams, an increase of 16.01% compared to 2024. In the fourth quarter of 2025, bank profits reached 113.43 billion drams, a 5.8% increase compared to the third quarter of the same year.-0-
