ARMENIAN CB GIVES AWARDS FOR BEST BROCHURES ON BANKING, INSURANCE, CREDIT SERVICES

/ARKA/
June 8, 2009
YEREVAN

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) gave awards for the best brochures
on banking, insurance and credit services to the winners of the
competition Best Brochure 2009.

The CBA Board member Vakhtang Abramyan stated that the competition is
aimed to encourage financial institutions to provide their customers
with full, reliable and illustrated information in conformity with
the Armenian law.

"This will enable consumers to find their way among the various
services and choose the most suitable for themselves," Abramyan said.

He pointed out that the number of categories has been increased this
year to encourage organizations.

Among the winners in the Best Brochure category were the HSBC Bank
Armenia, ISG insurance company, AGBA Leasing credit institution.

As regards the Best Design and Way of Information category, the
winners were Conversebank, Alfa Insurance Company, AGBA Leasing
credit institution.

The diplomas for Best Content and High Availability were awarded to
ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Ingo Armenia insurance company, and Norvik
credit institution.

"The Central Bank attaches importance to the protection of rights and
legal interests of consumers of financial services, as well as to the
problem of building up the confidence in the financial market. One of
the best ways of resolving the problem20is to ensure the transparency
of the financial market," Abramy6an said.

He pointed out the necessity for informing the public of financial
institutions and welcomed the fact that the market participants
realize the need for transparent activities.

"If we compare the results with last year’s, we can see essential
progress, especially the progress made by insurance companies,
considering the fact that insurance is a relatively new service in
the Armenian market, and the public need full information on all the
services," Abramyan said.

On the other hand, credit institutions have not made any serious
progress.

Abramyan expressed hope that they will revise the methods and range
of information on their services.

Director of the ARKA News Agency Konstantin Petrosov expressed a wish
that the brochures really reflect the quality of services rendered
to the population by banks, insurance and credit institutions.

"Especially now, amid the crisis, competent services play a great
role in struggling for good clients," Petrosov said.

Not only CBA experts, but also NGOs protecting the rights, of
consumers, specialists of banks, credit institutions, associations
of insurance companies, as well as of the ARKA News Agency, were
involved in the project.

Twenty-two commercial banks, 24 credit institutions and 11 insurance
companies are operating in Armenia.