Saturday, August 27 2011 11:32
Ameriabank retains leading position in lending to economy, and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - in personal loans
ArmInfo. As of June 30 2011 the loan book of the banking system of Armenia totaled 1.179trl AMD ($3.2bln) or 66.9% of the assets and 1.160trl AMD with loan loss provisions inclusive.
As compared with June 30 2010 the provisions grew by 19%, as compared with June 30 2009 - by 27%. Q2 2011 the share of overdue loans remained unchanged at 4.7% (three banks showed an index ranking within 9-17%) while the share of the loan loss provisions dropping from 1.8% to 1.7% (three banks showed an index ranging within 4-7%).
The share of economy lending made up 64% or 753.4bln AMD ($2bln) - 43.4% more than in Jan-June 2010 and 9.5% more than in Q1 2011 against 9% growth in Q1 2011. Personal lending grew by 23.1% as compared with Jan-June 2010 and by 7.5% in Q2 alone against 7.3% growth in Q1 2011 to 342bln AMD or $927mln (29% of total lending). Unlike the previous years in 2008- 2009 and in Q1, Q2 and Q3 of 2010 personal lending grew more slowly than economy lending due mostly to the global crisis in 2008-2009 forcing the banks to abstain from issuing consumer, mortgage and auto loans and to give preference to SMEs (in the framework of international target credit programs, a stabilization loan provided by Russia in late June 2009 and a support loan provided by the World Bank), industry, trade and agriculture. Very few banks issued consumer, mortgage and auto loans in Q1 2009 and only to trusted consumer. Retail and consumer lending revived in Q4 2009 following the establishment of a National Mortgage Company, a unit set up by the Central Bank for refinancing mortgage loans. The CB also launched a program entitled Affordable Housing for Youth People. The loans provided in the framework of this program are refinanced by Affordable Housing for Young People, a universal credit company set up in Feb 2010. Apr 19 2010 the CB and KfW signed an agreement to continue the program fostering mortgage lending in Armenia. As a result, personal lending began to grow but it is still smaller than economy lending is.
In Jan-June 2011 in the economy lending portfolio the lending of services grew by 33.3%, agriculture - by 25.4%, trade - by 24.4%, transport and communication - by 21%, industry - by 8.8%, construction - by 18.7%. In the retail lending portfolio mortgage lending grew by 7%, hire purchase lending - by 16.2%. Auto lending declined by 16.4%.
The leader in economy lending is Ameriabank - 100.4bln AMD (78% of the bank's total lending), followed by Armbusinessbank - 73.1bln AMD (78.3%), HSBC Bank Armenia - 70.6bln AMD (67.4%), VTB bank Armenia - 64.3bln AMD (59.1%) and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - 60.8bln AMD (45.7%). ProCreditBank, entering Armenia's banking system in Feb 2008, ensured the biggest share of econo7my lending in the loan book - 91% or 19bln AMD (14th position). Mellat Bank showed the smallest share of economy lending - 2.7% or 0.8bln AMD (21st position). 93% of the bank's loan book is an inter-bank loan to the mother bank, 7% are mortgage loans.
The leader in personal lending is ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - 67.6bln AMD (50.8% of total lending with loans given to farmers inclusive) followed by VTB Bank Armenia - 42bln AMD (38.6%) and Ardshininvestbank - 27.7bln AMD (32.9%). BTA Bank has the biggest share of personal lending in total lending - 77.6% or 3.4bln AMD (18th position, mostly consumer loans). Mellat Bank has the smallest share of personal lending in total lending - 4.5% or 1.4bln AMD (20th position, mostly mortgage loans).
19 out of 21 banks showed quarterly growth in economy lending, 17 banks showed annual growth in the index. ADB registered the highest growth in economy lending - 31.7% to 12.2bln AMD (19th position), Areximbank-GPB Group - the highest annual growth - twice to 50.6bln AMD (7th position). Unibank and HSBC Bank Armenia registered quarterly decline in economy lending - 2-4%. Mellat Bank showed the biggest annual decline in the index - 31%. 16 banks showed growth in personal lending. Armswissbank registered the highest growth - 26-64% to 3.4bln AMD (14th position), Mellat Bank- the biggest decline - 9.23%.
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