ARARATBANK intends to increase the ratio of the loan portfolio to  assets from 50% to 70%

ArmInfo. One of the most dynamically developing banks in Armenia, ARARATBANK will continue to develop an active credit policy, which is significantly higher than  the market average, and this year it intends to increase the ratio of the loan portfolio to assets from 50% to 70%. This was stated by the Chairman of the Board of the Bank Ashot Osipyan at today's 11th general consideration of the shareholders of OJSC "ARARATBANK".

A. Osipyan noted that the growth of loans granted to customers in  2017 was 80.1%, reaching 119.2 billion drams, while the ratio of  non-performing loans (NPL) in the total loan portfolio decreased from  2.7% to 1.2% in the year. He stressed that the bank has a very high  level of liquidity, which allows further expanding the active credit  policy. An important direction of lending, in addition to servicing  corporate clients, A. Osipyan called mortgage lending, as well as  financing of international trade: segments in which the bank is one  of the leaders in the Armenian banking market. The Bank introduced a  scoring system for assessing credit risks, which facilitated the  process of issuing small-to 1 million drams-consumer loans.  However,  according to the head of the bank, this is not enough, and the  scoring system will continue to improve.

The bank works very closely with institutional foreign partners on  various loan programs, the number of which has reached 14, and within  their framework it has been possible to attract about $ 70 million of  loan funds, thereby significantly increasing the level of  diversification of liabilities and loan portfolio.

The Bank intends to further develop the service component in order to  substantially increase the level of non-interest income. Having a  developed branch network, ARARATBANK today occupies a 14% niche in  the money transfer market, setting a goal to increase the share to  20%. The Bank is active in the field of public services in the  context of utility payments and a wide range of public services.

The head of ARARATBANK reminded the shareholders and everyone  attending the meeting about the bank's main strategy, designed to  smoothly develop the three main areas of banking: classical,  investment and digital. In terms of investment, ARARATBANK achieved  solid success as an underwriter and market maker of the emerging bond  market, becoming the pioneer in the securitization of mortgage loans  to the First Mortgage Company last year. The bank itself intends to  conduct its own regular public offering this year, however, as  A.Osipyan told ArmInfo, the main parameters of the future IPO have  not been approved yet.

In the field of development of financial technologies, ARARATBANK  recently introduced the Service Guide system for customers and will  soon introduce a modernized mobile banking application. The first  fully electronic branch of the bank is already operating. According  to A. Osipyan, the Bank has already stopped evaluating the level of  work of its branches in terms of profitability, but switched to  assessing their effectiveness.

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks as of January 1,  2018, prepared by IC ArmInfo, ARARATBANK is among the top ten in  terms of assets and credit investments. Moreover, in the loan  portfolio, corporate lending accounts for more than 65%. In 2017,  ARARATBANK significantly increased lending to the construction sector  - 3 times, industrial sector - 65%, agricultural sector - 31%, SMEs -  16.3%. In terms of lending for construction, SMEs and mortgage loans,  the bank is included in the TOP-5.  In the structure of general  liabilities of the bank, about 44% accounted for the share of loans  from international financial institutions, the absolute value of  which increased by 45.4% in 2017, and by the volume of these funds  the bank also is included in the TOP-5. The bank raised its total  capital by 6.5% in 2017 to 35.3 billion drams due to the increase in  accumulated profit by 13.8% to 14.5 billion drams. The bank managed  to increase the income from crediting by 56.3% in 2017, from  remittances - by 27.4%, from card transactions - by 26.8%, from  transactions with securities - by 31.8%. As a result, in 2017,  ARARATBANK completed with a net profit of 2.1 billion drams, ensuring  the growth of this indicator by 89.1%. (The calculated exchange rate  of AMD as of December 31, 2017 was 484.10 AMD/USD1).

OJSC "ARARATBANK" has been operating since November 2005. The  majority shareholders of ARARATBANK on January 1, 2018, one of the  largest oil traders in Armenia - Flush company with a 72.73% stake in  the capital, Barsegh Beglaryan (famous entrepreneur, the head of  Flash) - 18.33%, Rural Impulse Fund II (part of the Belgian Incofin  Investment Management - Incofin IM) - 8.58%. In terms of coverage of  the branch network, ARARATBANK holds the third position, in  particular, the bank has 61 branches, out of which 30 are located in  Yerevan, 29 in the regions and 2 in Artsakh.