INTERNATIONAL TRADE BANK ARMENIA TO ENTER MORTGAGE CREDITING MARKET SOON

Arka News Agency, Armenia
Oct 24 2006

YEREVAN, October 24. /ARKA/. ITB – International Trade Bank (Armenia)
will enter the mortgage crediting market soon. The ITB press service
reported that the bank has already become one of the participants of
the KfW credit program "Development of Stable Market of Housing Loan".

Executive Director of the ITB Ara Kitabalyan reported that the KfW
program will become an important incentive for new qualitative
rise of this segment of the financial market in the country,
and encourage local banks to the next improvement of the terms on
crediting for clients, reduction of interest rates and extension of
payment deadlines.

"Implementation of this program will raise the quality level and
culture of the very process of provision of crediting. The technology
of crediting provision will be considerably improved that is very
important for further development of this segment of the market,"
Kitabalyan said.

Under this program, the bank will give opportunity to the middle
class of Armenia to take the opportunity of housing loan.

Besides this, the ITB intends to provide mortgage loans from the owned
funds, and also it is planned that it will participate in various
international programs. The bank has elaborated its own program on
mortgage lending and will announce it’s entering this markret.

The bank will provide mortgage loans for no less than 10 years. At
the initial stage, the loan will not exceed AMD 12mln. The start of
the program implementation has been scheduled for November-December
2006. The refinancing will be carried out in the mid of February 2007.

International Trade Bank (Armenia) was created on the basis of
"Bank-Menatep-Armenia" in 1992 as the Yerevan branch of the Russian
bank Menatep. In April 2000, the bank’s share were purchased by
foreign companies, later joined in the Makarios (MG) Holdings GMBH,
and bank itself was renamed to ITB – International Trade Bank. In 2005,
the bank’s 99.91% shares were purchased by Makarios (MG) Holdings GMBH.

ITB’s total assets made up AMD 5.1bln as of 30 June, 2006, the credit
portfolio totaled AMD 2.98bln. The bank currently operates four
branches The Makarious Group Holdings GMBH joins about 60 companies
that are registered in Austria, Great Britain, Ireland, Switzerland,
Cyprus, and in a number of CIS countries. The group consists of banks,
leasing, investment and consulting organizations, the activity of
which is aim at implementing large-scale investment programs in the
spheres of construction, metal mining, timber, woodworking and textile
industries, and also trade and high technologies.

The economic interests of the Makarios group are not limited in Armenia
only by the banking sphere. The group has made large investments for
$22.5mln in the program of construction of the Northern Avenue of
Yerevan. ($1 – AMD 382.47).

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress