Monday, August 9 2010 16:47
Over Q2 2010 provision of crediting of Armenian banking system grew by 2,3% to $2.3 bln
ArmInfo. By 30 June 2010 real provision of crediting of the Armenian banking system amounted to 838.9 bln AMD ($2.3 bln), having increased by 29,3% as compared with the same period of 2009, and by 2,3% over Q2 2010 alone (against 6,7% growth over Q1 2010 and 3% decline over Q2 2009). In the structure of assets, the share of provision of crediting made up 61,2% (against 58,6% over Q1 2010 and 57,3% over Q2 2009).
According to the Ranking of Commercial Banks of Armenia by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), the share of economy crediting made up 63,1% of the total provision of crediting of the commercial banks, and the share of crediting individuals made up 33,1%.
By 30 June 2010 the volume of economy crediting by the commercial banks amounted to 529.1 bln AMD ($1.4 bln), having increased by 43% as compared with the same period of 2009, and by 3,6% over Q2 2010 alone (against 5,8% decline in Q2 2009). At the same time, the summary volume of crediting individuals by commercial banks grew by 8,1% as compared with Jan-June 2009, and by 1,9% over Q2 2010 alone (against 0,5% growth in Q2 2009), having amounted to 277.9 bln AMD or $756.3 mln. Unlike the previous years, in 2008-2009, as well as over Q1 and Q2 2010 the growth rates of crediting individuals were considerably lower than the growth rates of economy crediting. This was conditioned by the global financial crisis, when the banks provided consumer loans, mortgages and auto-credits carefully, and activated in SME crediting (under international target credit projects, as well as Russian stabilization loan and World Bank support loan provided to Armenia in late June 2009) industrial sector, trade sphere and agriculture. Since Q1 2009 retail crediting (consumer loans, mortgage crediting, and auto-crediting) was carried out only by few banks, moreover, only on the terms of refinancing (the loans were provided to the trusted clients), which led to abrupt reduction in crediting rates of individuals within the first three quarters of 2009.
Recovery of retail and consumer crediting has been observed since Q4 2009 mostly thanks to creation of the National Mortgage Company (NMC) by the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) by July 2009. The NMC was called up to refinance mortgage loans. At the same time, the CBA launched a program "Affordable Housing for Young Families", under which mortgage loans are refinanced by the Affordable Housing for Young Families UCO set up in Feb 2010. In addition, on 19 April 2010 the CBA and KfW signed an agreement to continue the program on housing finance stable market development. As a result of the measures taken, the rates of crediting individuals started growing, though at a very slow pace.
In Jan-June 2010 the biggest economy crediting growth was fixed the sphere of transport and communication - by 45,2%, trade sphere - by 18,4%, servicing - by 15%, agriculture - by 13%, and construction sector - by 6%. In retail crediting the mortgage portfolio of the banks grew by 1,9%, with the semi-annual reduction in auto-crediting being 10,7%.
The top five banks by the volume of economy crediting are ArmBusinessBank - 63 bln AMD (81,3% of total provision of crediting of the bank), Ameriabank - 61.2 bln AMD (71,6% of total), HSBC Bank Armenia - 47.1 bln AMD (59,2%), Unibank - 45.1 bln AMD (62,7%), and VTB Bank (Armenia) - 38.1 bln AMD (51,6%). ProCredit Bank, which has entered the banking market since Feb 2008, managed to ensure the biggest share of economy crediting in the credit portfolio - 91% or 13.4 bln AMD (16th position). The lowest share of economy crediting in the total provision of crediting was demonstrated by BTA Bank - 27% or 1.1 bln AMD (the last 21st position).
As regards crediting individuals, the leading positions belong to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - 52.6 bln AMD (58,1% of total provision of crediting, including agricultural loans for farmers), VTB Bank (Armenia) - 29.6 bln AMD (40,1%), and Unibank - 26.8 bln AMD (37,3% of total). By the share of crediting individuals in the total provision of crediting, BTA Bank is in the lead - 73%, 2.9 bln AMD in absolute terms (18th position in the banking system), and these are mainly consumer loans. The lowest share was demonstrated by ProCredit Bank - 9,1% or 1.3 bln AMD, which was conditioned by the bank's focus on SME crediting.
Out of 21 commercial banks, quarterly growth in economy crediting was fixed by 13 banks, and annual growth – by 15 banks. The biggest quarterly and annual growth in economy crediting was demonstrated by Areximbank-Gazprombank Group (by 47,3% and almost twice respectively) to 22.7 bln AMD (9th position), and the biggest quarterly decline – by VTB Bank (Armenia) - by 22,4%, and the biggest annual decline was fixed by BTA - 37,2%. By crediting individuals, quarterly growth was ensured by 13 banks, and annual growth - by 12 banks. In particular, the biggest quarterly growth in crediting individuals was demonstrated by Ameriabank – by 66,2%, and annual growth – by ProCredit Bank – twice, the biggest quarterly and annual decline was demonstrated by Mellatbank - by 9,6% and 43,4% respectively (the retail portfolio being focused on consumer loans).
To note, in mid June 2010 the merger process of Cascade Bank and Ameriabank was over, and the unified bank operates in the market under Ameriabank brand. The given ranking takes into account the consolidated indices of the unified bank.
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