Ruben Vardanyan: Consolidation of Armenian banking sector inevitable

2010-04-10 14:00:00

ArmInfo. Consolidation of the Armenian banking sector is inevitable
and it is the right process, Ruben Vardanyan, President of "Troika
Dialog" Group of Companies, Chairman of "Ameriabank" Board, said in a
press conference in Yerevan on Saturday on occasion of the merger of
Ameriabank and Cascade Bank.

He believes that the banking sector in Armenia will pass the same way
as the banking systems in other countries. "It is important for us to
understand that competition is not only internal, but also with the
global banking system, in general. The local banks must be competitive
by all criteria: by the size of capital, technologies,
risk-management, services. All this requires big investments," Ruben
Vardanyan said.

On April 10, 2010 Ameriabank and Cascade Bank announced that TDA
Holdings, Inc. had become the shareholder of Cascade Bank. The
agreement between TDA Holdings Limited and Cascade Capital Holdings,
shareholders of Ameriabank and Cascade Bank respectively was announced
in March. The Central Bank of Armenia approved the agreement on April
7th. TDA Holding acquired shares in Cascade Bank as the first step in
a merger of the two banks. The merger is to be completed by November
2010. The former shareholder of Cascade Bank, the Gafesjian Family
Fund, will get a not large share in the capital of the bank.

The amount of the deal has not been announced. The merger will create
one of the strongest financial institutions in Armenia with
consolidated capital of USD 75 million, assets of USD 400 million,
liabilities of USD 262 million assuring the bank among top three
positions in the domestic market. As of late 2009 total capital of
Cascade Bank was $20.1 million (17th position in the banking system)
and capital of Ameriabank was $57.5 million (4th position).