ARMENIA’S ARDSHININVESTBANK, WORLDBUSINESS CAPITAL INC SIGN $10 MILLION LOAN AGREEMENT
ARKA
March 30, 2009
YEREVAN, March 30. /ARKA/. Armenia’s Ardshininvestbank and the
U.S. WorldBusiness Capital Inc signed a $10mln loan agreement in
Washington, DC on March 26.
Guaranteed by the U.S. Government agency Overseas Private
Investment Corp (OPIC), the 10-year loan will help Armenia boost
small-and-medium-sized businesses. In its turn, Ardshininvestbank
will earmark $2.5mln for the program.
The bank’s Deputy CEO Sergey Virabyan and Executive Vice President
and Chief Lending Officer of WorldBusiness Capital Inc Robert Monyak
signed the agreement. Armenia’s Ambassador to the USA Tatul Markaryan,
as well as high-ranking officials from OPIC, WorldBusiness Capital
Inc and IMF were present at the agreement signing ceremony.
"Implementing this program, Ardshininvestbank will boost
small-and-medium-sized businesses in Armenia and help those
enterprises out of the global financial crisis," said Acting CEO of
Ardshininvestbank Gurgen Harutyunyan.
The bank aims at gradually developing relations with international
partners to be able to attract foreign investments and stabilize
the country’s economic situation. Ardshininvestbank currently has
49 branches in Armenia, with another 6 branches being located in
Karabakh. The bank has its representation in Paris.
Some 168,000 individuals and legal entities are the bank’s clients.
As of 2 008, Ardshininvestbank gained the largest net profit
in the country’s banking sector and ranked second for loan
investments. Ardshininvestbank was the third largest Armenian bank
with its liabilities and assets.
Last year, Moody’s international ratings agency granted a Ba1
long-term rating to the bank for its national-currency deposits,
as well as a Ba3 long-term rating and a short-term Not Prime rating
for foreign-currency deposits.
The bank was graded a D rating (D minus) for financial stability.
In 2008, Ardshininvestbank was awarded an ISO 9001:2000 quality
management systems certificate.