RATING AGENCY AMRATING / GLOBALRATING ASSIGNS ‘BB+’ CREDIT RATING WITH PREDICTION ‘STABLE’ TO CJSC ‘CONVERSE BANK’

ArmInfo
2009-06-23 19:11:00

ArmInfo. The Rating agency AmRating / GlobalRating assigned ‘BB+’
credit rating with prediction ‘stable’ to CJSC ‘Converse Bank’. As the
banking analyst of AmRating/GlobalRating Karina Melikyan thinks, the
rating was assigned for the first time as the bank is a financially
strong owner, has good quality of assets, has a strong position in
the market and is highly tolerant. The factors that clampdown the
rating are: big share in the credit portfolio of retail credits,
characterized with big risks; increased concentration of the credit
portfolio and deposit base of clients. It is possible that a part
of the resource base may much depend on the on-call funds and the
funds of private depositors. The bank may also become more vulnerable
to the foreign currency and credit risks. As executive director of
AmRating/GlobalRating Emmanuil Mkrtchayn said, the crisis phenomena
noticed in the banking system of Armenia because of the world
economical crisis, have slowed down indices of the growing rates of
the bank a little, but positive dynamics is still preserved.

To note, ‘Converse Bank’ is a private, universal bank of Armenia with
the developed clients’ base and moderately developed regional net. The
main directio ns of activity are – serving of small and medium-sized
business, financing of agrobusiness, giving wide specter of the retail
products – consumer crediting, bank cards and private transfers. The
bank has been actively cooperating with big enterprises. It finances
trade, building industry, companies of the processing branch. It
has contacts with foreign financial institutes. The bank has stable
market positions and is an active player at foreign currency and state
securities market. The Argentinean businessman Eduardo Eurnekian that
indirectly owns 95% of the bank shares, chiefly affects strategical
decisions of the bank.

According to ArmInfo, assets of the bank at the beginning of 2009
amounted to 70,9 bln drams (the 5th position in the banking system
of Armenia), credit portfolio 42,5 bln drams (the 6th position),
the funds attracted from clients amounted to 40,8 bln drams (the 4th
position). The total capital of the bank amounted to 13,0 bln drams
(the 6th position). The bank finished the year of 2008 with a net
profit 1,9 bln drams (the 5th position).

The Global Rating Group – a family of rating agencies. The rating
agencies RusRating (Russia), KzRating (Kazakhstan) and AmRating
(Armenia) were created by Richard Hainsworth and have been brought
together in the Global Rating Group. In the near future the group plans
to add national rating agencies in Azerbaijan (AzeriRating), Ukraine
(Ua-Rating) and other CIS regions. The primary20goal of the Global
Rating Group is to establish a network of national rating agencies
across the CIS, promoting national brands and strengthening the market
position of each agency in its own country and the international
community.