CB revokes license of Armenian Development Bank following its merger with ARARATBANK

ArmInfo. The Central Bank of Armenia has registered the deed of conveyance of the Armenian Development Bank to ARARATBANK, as well as the changes in ARARATBANK's charter. The Armenian Development Bank's activities have been suspended and its license No.14 for the banking activities has been revoked. From now on ARARATBANK OJSC is the legal successor of the Armenian Development Bank. The press office of the Central Bank of Armenia has told ArmInfo that that the relevant decision of the CBA was taken on 30 December 2016.   

Earlier on December 20, the Central Bank of Armenia registered the merger agreement of Armenian Development Bank and ARARATBANK. Upon completion of the process stipulated by the agreement, an application was filed to the CBA to register the results of the two banks' merger. ARARATBANK OJSC keeps operating and it becomes the legal successor of Armenian Development Bank.    

According to ARARATBANK, at the extraordinary meeting of the buying bank's shareholders on 10 Dec 2016 a decision on merger was taken. A month before that ARARATBANK issued shares to increase its capital to meet the requirement that will come into effect in 2017. Following the placement, the Bank increased its total capital to almost 33 billion AMD (versus the required 30 billion AMD).

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks by ArmInfo, as of 1 Oct 2016, the assets of ARARATBANK OJSC amounted to 137.5 bln AMD (up 9.3% versus a year before), general obligations - 113.4 bln AMD (up 9.7%), accumulated profit - 12.4 bln AMD, lending - 70 bln AMD (up 4.7%), time deposits - 22.5 bln AMD, call liabilities - 28.7 bln AMD, investments in government bonds - 26 bln AMD (up 2.3-fold). In Jan-Sept 2016, the net profit of ARARATBANK amounted to 732.8 mln AMD, including 406.5 mln AMD in Q3. Following the recent issue of shares in November, in the structure of the shareholders' capital 72.73% belongs to Flash oil trader, 18.14% - to the EBRD, 8.58% - to the Rural Impulse Fund II, with the remaining 0.55% distributed among 82 minority shareholders. ARARATBANK has 54 branches (4th position):  27 in Yerevan, 26 in the provinces and 1 in Nagorno-Karabakh.

To note, by 1 Oct 2016, the assets of the Armenian Development Bank amounted to 68 bln AMD (down 2% versus a year before), general obligations - 56.2 bln AMD (down 5%), total capital - 11.8 bln AMD, accumulated profit - 6.9 bln AMD, lending - 44.2 bln AMD, time deposits - 43.3 bln AMD, call liabilities - 7.4 bln AMD. In Jan-Sept 2016, the net profit of the bank totaled 1.2 bln AMD versus 131 mln AMD a year before. As of 1 Oct 2016, the majority shareholders of Armenian Development Bank OJSC were the Armenian Football Federation president Ruben Hayrapetyan (19.98%), Rafik Hayrapetyan (19.65%), and Grigor Termenjian (US) - 16.03%, with the remaining 70 being minority ones. The bank has 9 branches - 4 in Yerevan, 4 in the provinces and 1 in Nagorno-Karabakh.