Wednesday, July 26 2023 17:04
Alina Hovhannisyan

Ameriabank, Ardshinbank in TOP-5 of list of 1000 largest taxpayers in  Armenia

Ameriabank, Ardshinbank in TOP-5 of list of 1000 largest taxpayers in  Armenia

ArmInfo.At the end of H1 2023 two Armenian banks, Ameriabank and Ardshinbank entered the TOP-5 of the list of 1000 largest taxpayers in Armenia, ranking 4th and 5th,  respectively, in annual terms (from 18th and 24th in H1 2022). This  is evidenced by the data of the State Revenue Committee of Armenia.

In particular, during the reporting period, Ameriabank paid 19.8  billion drams to the state treasury, 4-fold more than a year ago. Of  this amount, the bank paid 18.4 billion drams in direct taxes  (including profit tax, income tax).

Ardshinbank increased tax deductions to the state treasury more than  5-fold - up to 18.9 billion drams, of which 18.4 billion drams are  direct taxes.

The TOP-5 taxpaying banks in the list of 1000 largest taxpayers also  included: ACBA Bank - 11th place (against 21st a year earlier) with a  payment of 8.9 billion drams to the state treasury, of which 8.1  billion drams on direct taxes; INECOBANK - 16th place (against 32nd a  year earlier) with 7.3 billion drams paid to the state treasury, of  which 6.9 billion drams are direct taxes; and Evocabank - 19th place  (against 151 a year earlier) with 6.5 billion drams paid to the state  treasury, of which 6.3 billion drams are direct taxes.

In H1 2023 the TOP-5 taxpaying banks sent 61.5 billion drams to the  state treasury through taxes, which is 3.3-fold higher than the  indicator of a year ago. Of this amount, 58.3 billion was paid in  direct taxes, with a 3.5-fold y-o-y increase. The share of TOP-5  tax-paying banks is 66% of the total amount of tax deductions made by  the banking system to the state treasury.

There are 14 banks among the first hundred taxpaying banks (against  12 a year earlier). They were Converse Bank - 23rd place (5.4 billion  drams, of which 5.1 billion - in direct taxes), IDBank - 31st place  (4.5 billion drams, of which 4.2 billion - in direct taxes),  Araratbank - 34th place (3.9 billion drams, of which 3.7 billion - in  direct taxes), HSBC Bank Armenia - 35th place (3.9 billion drams, of  which 3.5 billion drams - in direct taxes), Armeconombank - 60th  place (2.5 billion drams, of which 2.3 billion drams), FAST Bank -  69th place (2.3 billion drams, of which 2.1 billion drams in direct  taxes), Unibank - 70th position (2.2 billion drams, of which 1.6  billion drams), VTB Bank (Armenia) - 76th place (2.1 billion drams,  of which 1.7 billion - for direct taxes), and Armswissbank - 85th  place (1.8 billion drams, of which 1.5 billion drams for income tax).

The other banks took the following positions: Armbusinessbank - 127th  place (1.3 billion drams, of which 991.2 million - in direct taxes),  Mellat Bank - 196th place (802.5 million drams, of which 783.8  million - in direct taxes) and Byblos Bank Armenia - 319th place  (499.4 million drams, of which 427.9 million - for direct taxes).  Only Artsakhbank is not included in the list of 1000 large taxpayers  again.

In general, the banking system of Armenia increased tax deductions to  the state treasury 2.8-fold year-on- year, up to 93.1 billion drams  ($241.3 million) in H1 2023. Of this amount, 93.2% or 86.8 billion  drams was paid in direct taxes, with a 3-fold y-o-y increase. The  share of the banking system in the total tax deductions of 1,000  large taxpayers in Armenia in H1 2023 increased to 10.6% from 4.5% a  year earlier.

It is worth noting that since the end of 2022, there are already 18  banks in the banking system of Armenia, taking into account a new  participant that entered the banking market in November, FAST Bank,  which previously operated in the country's financial market as a  universal credit company.

According to the Express Ranking of Armenian Banks as of June 30,  2023, prepared by ArmInfo, the total accumulated profit of the  banking system of Armenia as of this date reached 578.9 billion drams  ($1.5 billion), increasing by 61% year-on-year (against 39% growth in  a year previously). Ameriabank, Ardshinbank, ACBA Bank, INECOBANK and  Converse Bank are included in the TOP-5 f in terms of accumulated  profits.

The banking system closed the H1 2023 with a balance sheet profit of  170.2 billion drams or $440.8 million (with a slowdown in y-o-y  growth from 2.8-fold to 21.5%), after taxes on which net profit  reached 142 billion drams ($367.8 million), slowing down in growth  from 2.8-fold  to 24.8%. The TOP-5 in terms of net profit, includes"  Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, INECOBANK, ACBA Bank and Converse Bank. (The  estimated exchange rate of the dram against the US dollar as of June  30, 2023 was 386.06 AMD/$1).