In first quarter of 2017, Armenian banks sent 10.1 billion AMD of taxes to state treasury with an annual growth by 8.6%

ArmInfo. The Armenian banking system sent 10.1 billion AMD to the state budget in the first quarter of 2017 (or 9.8 billion without taking into account the combined Areximbank and the Armenian Development Bank), which is 8.6% higher than the figure of a year ago. Of this amount, over 88% or 8.9 billion AMD was paid on direct taxes (including income tax and income tax), with an annual growth of 8.5%.

According to the Armenian State Revenue Committee, in the first hundred of the largest taxpayers of Armenia in the first quarter of 2017, out of 17 operating banks, 13 (against the same number a year earlier) fell. Among them, VTB Bank (Armenia), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Anelik Bank, Ameriabank and Armbusinessbank turned out to be in the top five of the taxpayer banks, three of which appeared in the top five a year earlier as well. In the first quarter of 2017, the top five banks sent 5 billion AMD to the state treasury (annual growth by 11.1%), of which 4.4 billion - on direct taxes (annual growth by 10%).

The VTB Bank (Armenia), which ranked 21st (versus 26th a year earlier) in the list of large taxpayers, is leading among banks in terms of the amount of taxes paid, sending 1.2bln AMD to the state budget, of which 1.05bln is direct taxes (including profit and income tax). Then follows: ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, which took 24 place (against 21 a year earlier), paying a little more than 1 billion AMD to the state treasury, of which 895.5 million AMD direct taxes (including profit and income tax). The 26th place was taken by Anelik Bank (instead of 75th year earlier), which paid taxes for 971.9 million AMD, out of which 768.9 million - direct taxes. Ameriabank took 28th place (against 27th year earlier), sending to the state budget 922.6mln AMD, of which 878.2mln AMD - direct taxes (including profit tax and income tax). The first five of banks-large taxpayers is closed by Armbusinessbank, which occupied the 29th place (against 43rd a year earlier) and paid 906.5mln AMD, of which 765.3mln AMD - on direct taxes.

Then goes Ardshinbank - 31st place (against 22th year earlier) - 859. 8mln AMD, out of which 786.7mln - direct taxes, Inecobank - 34th place (against 45th year before) - 815.6mln, of which 758 million - direct taxes, Unibank - 45th place (against 41th year earlier) - 687.4 million, out of which 572.1 million - direct taxes.

The first hundred large taxpayers also included Converse Bank (51st place - 589.7mln AMD, 537.4 of them on direct taxes), Armeconombank (65th place - 456.7mln AMD, of which 387.7mln AMD - on direct taxes), Araratbank (77th place - 420.2 mln, of which 373.5 mln - under direct taxes), Armswissbank (84th place - 369.7 mln, of which 359 mln - under direct taxes) and Prometey Bank (91rd place - 353.1 Million, of which 257.8 million - on direct taxes).

The rest of the banks are located in the list of large taxpayers of Armenia as follows: Mellat Bank - 248th place - 116.2 mln (out of which 108.8 mln - direct taxes), HSBC - 400th place - 61 mln (of which 36.1 mln - direct taxes), Byblos Bank Armenia - 454th place - 53.2 million (of which 35.8 million - direct taxes) and Artsakhbank - 514 places - 48.2 million (of which 43 million - direct taxes). Areximbank and the Armenian Development Bank, which together with Ardshinbank and Araratbank respectively, also appear on the list of large taxpayers, as at the report date the balances of the merged banks have not yet been fully consolidated. In particular, Areximbank took the 179th place, sending 167 million to the state treasury (of which 156.5 million - under direct taxes), and the Armenian Development Bank - 323 places - 83.1 million (of which 78.9 million - direct Taxes).

According to the Financial Rating of the Armenian Banks, prepared by the IA ArmInfo, the aggregate accumulated profit of the Armenian banking system as of April 1, 2017 was 141.3 billion AMD (according to the data of 17 banks remaining on the market), having decreased by 13.3% year-on-year. The top five leaders in terms of accumulated profit are HSBC Bank Armenia - AMD 29.6 billion, Ameriabank - 25.9 billion AMD, ACBA Credit Agricole Bank - 17.4 billion AMD, INECOBANK - 17.3 billion AMD, and Araratbank - 12.9 billion AMD. In the first quarter of 2017, the banking system completed with a balance- sheet profit of 13.4 billion AMD (an annual growth of 73%), which after taxes paid a net profit of 10.9 billion AMD with an annual growth of 82%. Only for the first quarter of this year, net profit of the banking system increased 12 times. (The calculated exchange rate of the AMD to the USD as of March 31, 17 was 483.45 AMD/USD1).

To note, four banks - ProCredit Bank, BTA Bank, Areximbank-Gazprombank Group and Armenian Development Bank, came out of the banking market in 2015-2016, having united with INECOBANK, Armeconombank, Ardshinbank and Araratbank, respectively. In particular, ProCredit Bank and BTA Bank, merged with INECOBANK and Armeconombank in December 2015, and a year later, in December 2016, Areximbank-Gazprombank Group and Armenian Development Bank announced the merger with Ardshinbank and Araratbank. As a result, in 2017, 17 banks entered. Consolidation of the Armenian banking sector was dictated by the need to meet the regulatory requirement for a minimum amount of total capital - 30 billion AMD, which came in force in January 1, 2017.