YEREVAN, May 13. /ARKA/. In the first quarter of 2026, Unibank’s SME loan portfolio increased by 28% compared to the same period last year. The unsecured business loan portfolio grew by 71%, while business leasing increased by 55%.
This was announced by David Petrosyan, First Deputy Chairman Management Board, Director of Corporate Business Development and Sales at Unibank, in response to journalists’ questions following the forum titled “SME Sector: Impact and Development Challenges”. The forum was organized by the Central Bank of Armenia, the Union of Banks of Armenia, and the German-Armenian Fund.
Supporting small and medium-sized enterprises is one of Unibank’s strategic priorities. The bank continuously expands its range of services, offering business clients accessible and favorable financing conditions.
“SMEs play an important role in the country’s economic development, and we strive to make financing as accessible and fast as possible for them. Today, the share of non-performing loans in our total SME portfolio is only 0.5%, which reflects our clients’ responsible approach. To provide additional support to our reliable borrowers, at the beginning of May we provided cashback to more than 2,000 SME borrowers in the amount of 1.2% of their outstanding liabilities in AMD,” noted David Petrosyan.
According to Daniel Azatyan, President of the Union of Banks of Armenia, around 16,000 out of the 115,000 companies operating in Armenia currently have loans, with the total number of loans reaching 56,000. This indicates significant potential for business lending within the banking sector.
“Banking services play a key role in business development. Thanks to our cooperation with Unibank, we have been able to implement investments that would otherwise have taken years under different conditions. As a result of this effective partnership, the development of our medical factory has advanced by around 7–8 years, which once again proves how important it is to obtain financing at the right time and have the opportunity to make investments,” said Suren Kolajyan, Founder and CEO of MEGA MED GROUP LLC and My City Dentist Center.
Addressing questions from SME representatives regarding collateral requirements, Mesrop Hakobyan, Chairman of the Management Board of Unibank, noted that banks evaluate a client’s creditworthiness based on the size of the company’s charter capital and the level of personal investment in the business. According to him, the equity capital in many local businesses remains relatively low, forcing banks to apply stricter collateral requirements.
It was also noted that Unibank places significant emphasis on unsecured express lending, enabling entrepreneurs to quickly resolve current financial issues.
Express lending is one of Unibank’s most in-demand services. The “Micro Express” loan is provided without collateral for up to 60 months and in amounts of up to AMD 10 million or USD 25 ,000. Thanks to process automation and AI-based credit scoring, preliminary loan approval can be obtained in just a few minutes. This approach allows entrepreneurs to quickly solve urgent financial issues.
Unibank is also actively developing business leasing by expanding financing opportunities for corporate clients and sole proprietors.
Business leasing is available without a down payment, while preliminary approval can be obtained within just 5 minutes.
Unibank has also revised merchant acquiring commission fees for cashless card payments processed through POS terminals, setting them 0.5% – 0.9% for cards issued in Armenia.
To improve the quality of SME customer service, Unibank is also developing digital services. Through the UNIBusiness Mobile application designed for legal entities, clients can manage accounts, make international SWIFT transfers, and process payments to partners and the state budget, significantly simplifying daily business financial operations.
Unibank also offers a multi-currency business card linked to accounts in AMD, USD, and EUR.
