Friday, November 28 2014 14:20
Armenian banking system's loan book exceeds 2 trillion AMD
ArmInfo. The Armenian banking system's loan book has exceeded 2 trillion AMD. According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), the aggregate lending of the banks grew by 12% over year and exceeded 2 trillion AMD ($5 billion) by 1 October 2014. The share of lending in the banks' assets increased from 65.7% to 67.7%. Due to the rise in lending and a considerable growth in the government bonds, the banking system's assets amounted to 3 trillion AMD (over $7 billion).
Economy lending in the banks' loan book has undergone almost no changes over year - 63.4%. In absolute terms, it totaled 1.3 trillion AMD ($3.1 billion), with an 11.3% year-over-year growth. Lending to agriculture rose by 19.4%, industry - by 15.5%, construction - by 18.6%, services and public catering - by 35.7%, trade - by 3.5%. Lending to transport and communication has undergone almost no changes. A year before the lending dynamics was also positive. The only difference was that more loans were provided to trade, transport and communication. SMEs received about 34% ($1.7 billion) of the aggregate loan book of the banks (38.7% year-over-year growth).
In the meantime, the banks' retail lending rose by 17.1% over year and amounted to 656.8 bln AMD ($1.6 bln) or 32.8% of the total loan book. In the retail segment, the mortgage portfolio started recovering its growth rates, while the growth rates of the loans for installment purchase slowed down, which is also observed through the credit cards (amid the considerable growth of overdrafts). Tangible acceleration was also observed in the growth rates of car loans.
As of 1 October 2014, Ardshininvestbank was in the lead in industry lending, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank in agriculture, VTB Bank (Armenia) in construction, Ameriabank in transport and communication, trade, public catering and services, HSBC Bank Armenia in lending to SMEs. VTB Bank (Armenia) took the lead in total consumer lending, Converse Bank in mortgage lending, ArmBusinessBank in credit cards and overdrafts, Ameriabank in car loans. Ameriabank is ranked 1st in the assets, VTB Bank (Armenia) in lending, Ameriabank in corporate lending, and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank in retail lending.
In the aggregate loan book of the banks the share of overdue loans rose from 7.8% to 8.1% in Q3 2014 (versus 5.7% in Q3 2013), and the absolute value of overdue loans grew by 47% over year. The loan loss provisions grew by almost 47%.
To note, there are 21 banks and 506 branches in Armenia. 214 of the branches are in Yerevan, 257 in the marzes of Armenia, and 35 in the Nagorno-Karabakh Republic.