ONLY 2 OF 15 BANKS EXPRESSED WISH TO BECOME OPEN JOINT STOCK COMPANIES

AZG Armenian Daily
25/05/2006

“Corporate Management of Banking Sector in Armenia” seminar opened
in Yerevan, yesterday. The seminar is organized by the International
Financial Corporation, by RA Central Bank and by the Government
of Netherlands.

Vache Gabrielian, member of RA Central Bank’s Board, told journalists
that they haven’t defined the deadline for the bank’s transfer to the
corporate management system. Only several points of the relevant law
will come to force from July 1, 2006. He stated that the corporate
management system will make the banking activities more effective and
transparent. He said that the main problem of the Armenian banking
sector is the lack of qualified specialists. “I hope that we will
settle this issue with the time,” he said, not excluding that the
representatives of the Armenian Diaspora may be involved in the
banking activities.

There is a great centralization of property in Armenian banks, said IFC
expert Panos Labrapolus presenting the results of a study. He noted
that 15 banks of overall 21 Armenian banks took part in the study
and that the results are based on the answers that the banks gave to
IFC questions. Only 2 of the 15 banks expressed wish to become open
joint stock companies.

Patrick Luternauer, IFC expert, said that the most urgent issue for
the Armenian banks in to secure access and transparency of information
about them. He also emphasized the importance of the work of the
Board of Directors that deals with the settlement of primary issues.

At the same time, he said that it’s good that the Armenian banks
are read to make amendments to their systems and apply corporate
management. It’s worth mentioning that the International Financial
Corporation is the investment branch of the World Bank. Its goal is
to make investments in the private sector companies of the countries
in the transition period. Armenia became IFC member in 1995.