30 PERCENT OF ARMENIAN BANKS SUFFER LOSSES
Lragir.am
03 July 06
7 out of 21 banks registered in the Republic of Armenia suffered
losses of billions in 2005. Another ten companies, which contain the
word "bank" in their names and used to offer banking services, also
suffered losses in 2005. However, there is no official information
on the official website of the Central Bank, although it was last
updated on June 29. And according to the information of the State
Tax Agency, only Econominvest Bank is broke. In other words, two
major state agencies, which deal with the state money of Armenia,
do not have enough information and do not inform the society or are
definitely careless.
So, 31 banks operate or are at least registered in Armenia, and if
16 suffer losses, a simple arithmetic sum shows that 50 percent of
banks suffer losses. The Central Bank of Armenia must have done this
sum as well, so they inform that there are only 21 banks in Armenia
and 7 suffered losses. When 30 percent of the system is dying slowly
is not as bad as 50 percent.
First of all, let us list the banks the Central Bank does not know
anything about. In 2005 United Bank’s losses totaled 15.528 billion
drams. Credit Yerevan, Akunk and Credit Service follow with 10.573
billion, 1.863 billion and 1.577 billion drams respectively.
Lend Bank is the last on the list of banks, whose losses exceed one
billion. Its losses totaled 1.074 billion. The dissolving Econominvest
Bank’s losses totaled 466 million. Armagrobank’s losses totaled
158.7 million, Trust Bank’s 83.5 million, Shirakinvest 73.4 and
Russian-Armenian Bank 34.864 million drams.
Among the banks registered with the Central Bank ASHIB’s losses
are the highest – 5.2 billion drams. The losses of Ararat Bank and
Armenian Development Bank also exceed one billion, totaling 1.132
billion. BTA Invest Bank’s losses totaled 3.09 million, Cascade Bank
34.468 million and Armswissbank’s losses totaled 13.143 million drams.