Monday, October 10 2011 10:31
Professional banking community of Armenia determines its leaders of 2011
ArmInfo. The professional banking community of Armenia has determined its worthy competitors.  As a result of an inter-bank cross public opinion poll among 97 top managers of 19 commercial banks of Armenia, 7 banks have taken the lead in 12 nominations: HSBC Bank Armenia in 4 nominations, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and ArmSwissBank in two nominations, and Ameriabank, Unibank, Ardshininvestbank, and INECOBANK in one nomination each. 
To remind, the public opinion poll "The Best Competitor" has been held by the financial and analytical service of the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo) since 2005 once every two years and reflects and the summarized assessment of the quality of the banking market participants' activities by the heads of the banks and their departments. The poll covers such spheres and segments of banking as:  management level, corporate governing, participation in financing of small and medium enterprises (SME), lending to large business, activeness in the consumer and mortgage crediting market, work level in the currency market, activeness in the field of card business, work in the money transfers market, work in the government securities and corporate debt market, as well as the level of technological equipment of the competitors. BTA Bank and Mellat Bank refused to participate in the public opinion poll. 
The results of the poll, i.e. the averaged pct points in all the nominations have demonstrated that the professional participants of the market quite highly estimate the level of work of the top five leaders: HSBC Bank Armenia (52.82%), Ameriabank (50.03%), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (44.82%), Unibank (42.3%), and Ardshininvestbank (41.2%). The other two nominees - INECOBANK and ArmSwissBank occupied the 7th and the 14th positions respectively. 
Thus, the leaders in terms of management level are HSBC Bank Armenia (59.58%), Ameriabank (59%), and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (52.14%).  To note, in this nomination HSBC Bank Armenia also took the lead in 2007, and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - in 2009.
In the nomination "corporate governing level" the same three banks are in the lead - HSBC Bank Armenia (60.71%), Ameriabank (60.13%), and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (47.41%). To note, HSBC Bank Armenia has been in the lead in this nomination since 2007. 
By the level of participation in SME financing, the competitors gave the preference to the following five banks: ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (46.76%), which has been in the lead since 2005, as well as INECOBANK (43.15%), HSBC Bank Armenia (42.85%), ProCredit Bank (41.13%), and Ameriabank (40.35%).
By lending to large business, the top four leaders are Ameriabank (58.68%), HSBC Bank Armenia (51.7%), VTB Bank (Armenia) (45.48%), and Ardshininvestbank (44.07%).
By consumer crediting, INECOBANK (56.06%) has been in the lead since 2005. The following banks rank next: Unibank (49.17%), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (48.65%), and HSBC Bank Armenia (46.6%).
By activeness in the mortgage crediting market, the top four leaders are HSBC Bank Armenia (52.48%), Unibank (46.87%), VTB Bank (Armenia) (46.64%), and ArmBusinessBank (44.1%).
By activeness of work in the currency market, the top four banks are Ardshininvestbank (56.08%), which has been in the lead since 2009; HSBC Bank Armenia (55.78%), Ameriabank (50.19%), and VTB Bank (Armenia) (46.15%).
In the market of plastic cards, the top four banks are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (60.52%), HSBC Bank Armenia (58.2%), Ameriabank (51.13%), and Unibank (49.56%).
In the money transfers market the traditional leaders are Unibank (76.12%) with the UniStream money transfer system, and Anelik Bank (62.71%) with its own Anelik system.
By technological equipment, the leading banks are HSBC Bank Armenia (64.715%), which has been in the lead since 2007; Ameriabank (60.84%), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (50.28%), and ProCredit Bank (48.67%).
In the government securities and corporate debt market, ArmSwissBank has been recognized the most active bank. By its activeness in the government securities market, ArmSwissBank received 50.52%, and by the corporate debt - 45.78%. In the government securities market the second position has been occupied by HSBC Bank Armenia (50.5%).  Ameriabank (47.18%) and Ardshininvestbank (44.65%) rank next. By the corporate debt, the second position has been occupied by Ameriabank (45.73%). HSBC Bank Armenia (42.08%) and Ardshininvestbank (36.46%) rank next.
To note, since 2005 when the first public opinion poll was conducted, INECOBANK has been in the lead in terms of consumer loans, and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank - in terms of SME financing. Since 2007 HSBC Bank Armenia has been in the lead by the level of corporate governing and technological equipment, and Unibank - by money transfers. Since 2009 Ardshininvestbank has been in the lead by its activeness in the currency market, and ArmSwissBank - by its work in the government securities market.  
It is noteworthy that the subjective opinion of the professional banking community of Armenia, which is expressed in the results of the given poll, mostly reflects the real picture of the banks' activeness in certain banking spheres with slight distortions, like in the previous surveys.