AZG Armenian Daily #052, 23/03/2006
Finances
CONVERSE BANK RECOGNIZED BEST BANK OF ARMENIA
Converse Bank plans to increase its capital by 25,2% due to growth of
profit and emission of shares. Smbat Nasibian, general director of the
bank, said at a press on March 21 conference. He informed that they
decided to issue banking bonds and to distribute them in the external
markets in 2006. Nasibian said that the bank will also strengthen its
leading position among the three leading banks of Armenia due to the
volumes of its actives and capital. He added that the bank will
enlarge the number of its clients to 75-80 thousand thanks to
improving the quality of banking services. Particularly, it is
envisaged that in 2006 the number of active clients will grow by
52,3%, while the actives will increase by 15%. At present, the actives
of Converse Bank make almost AMD 47 billions, while its credits amount
to almost AMD 4 billions.
The bank is also going to broaden the network of its branches. Thus,
five new branches of the banks will open in Yerevan and in the
economically active regions of Armenia, in 2006. The planned increase
of competitiveness for the United Transfer System will help the bank
secure annual 30% of growth for transfers’ volume. It’s noteworthy
that the bank occupied the first place among other commercial banks
due to 49,2% of its capital’s growth, in 2005.
According to the volume of the bank’s actives that made AMD 42
billion, Converse Bank occupied the third place.
The Bank plans to increase its mortgage crediting portfolio to $3
million by end 2005.
He said that the bank’s portfolio of mortgage credits totals to almost
$1 million, at present. Recently, the bank prolonged the terms for
repayment of these credits to 10 years. The maximal loan for real
estate purchase amounts to $30 thousand. The interest rate for
mortgage credits totals to annual 13%, while the minimal pre-payment
volume makes 30% of the real estate cost to be purchased. According to
the results of 2005, Converse Bank occupied the third place by the
volume of its actives that grew to 26% and totaled to AMD 42 billions.
The Bank is going to increase the number of its cards by 56,8%, in
2006. While the volume of municipal payments will grow by 25,6%.
Nasibian said that the bank will open 6 new bank machines and 80
POS-terminals. He added that the international payment system Visa
International gave the bank the certificate for rendering services
through Smart-card, that will help carry out services for chip cards
through the network of POS-terminals. It is also envisaged that the
bank will undergo certification for rendering services for chip Visa
cards through bank machines in 2006.
According to the bank, the number of issued ArCa and Visa cards grew
by 26,8% and made 11067, while the service network included 100
points, in 2005.The profits from operations with cards grew by 18,4%,
in 2005.