IFC to provide us $5mln guarantees to Ameriabank

YEREVAN, July 4. /ARKA/. The International Finance Corporation (IFC)
will provide US $5mln guarantees to Ameriabank for trade financing.
Ameriabank Director General Artak Anesyan and IFC Director for the
Caucasus Thomas Lubeck signed a relevant agreement.

Following the signing ceremony, Mr. Anesyan pointed out that, according
to the initial data, the funds are to be provided at an annual interest
rate of 3%, with the term of guarantees to depend on agreements.

`The IFC will provide the bank with guarantees for import and export
transactions by corporate clients all the way up to 100%, which will
allow the bank to open letters of credit in over 300 banks throughout
the world and offer our clients more favorable terms of serving
guarantees and bank letters,’ Anesyan said.

He pointed out that the can even now start providing guarantees, all
the more so as, according to the latest data, 68 letters of guarantee
to the total amount of 4.206bln AMD have been opened with the bank,
with 80% of them dealing with import promotion.

Anesyan reported that the terms of credit terms for clients are being
finally specified. However, guarantees will mostly be provided to the
corporate clients working in the trade and production sectors, as they
have to import raw materials.

`This is the bank’s first program of cooperating with international
agencies,
which makes it possible to use the IFC’s potential. I hope it
will be a mutually advantageous transaction,’ Anesyan said.

Mr. Thomas Lubeck pointed out that the IFC has implemented trade
financing programs to the amount of over US $2.5bln worldwide this
year, with some of them involving Armenian commercial banks.

IFC attaches high importance to assisting the Armenian banking sector,
especially amid the crisis, as well as to using the Armenian banks’
potential to promote economic progress, he said.

Referring to a study of Ameriabank’s financial activities, Lubeck said
that the banks showed its stability as well as a good corporate client
base. So the IFC hopes for long-term and effective cooperation with the
bank.

IFC is already implementing trade financing programs with
Ardshininvestbank and Armeconombank.

The Ameriabank CJSC (former Armimpexeconombank, renamed last May) was
founded in July 1992 using the facilities of the Armenian branch of the
USSR Vnesheconombank. On September 8, 1992, the Central Bank of Armenia
(CBA) issued a banking license to Ameriabank. In August 2007, TDA
Holdings Limited, affiliate of the Troika Dialog investment and banking
group (Russia), purchased the bank’s shares.

As of March 31, 2009, Ameriabank’s assets reached 80.9bln AMD,
liabilities 60.4bln AMD, total capital 20.5bln AMD, authorized capital
18.2bln AMD (first largest authorized capital in the Armenian banking20
system), credit investments totaled 36.2bln AMD and net profit
(January-March 2009) 113.6mln AMD.

The bank has one branch in Armenia. P.T. `0–