Wednesday, July 12 2017 21:13

ArmInfo.Anelik Bank launches an entirely new approach to corporate lending to the Armenian banking market, whereby potential borrowers can independently form interest rates on a competitive basis. First Deputy Chairman of the Board of  Anelik Bank Sergey Virabyan announced on July 12 at a press  conference, said.

"In recent months, there have been a lot of discussions about what  kind of proposal the Bank can surprise the market, what new  approaches can be applied. As a result, a pilot program was  developed, which has no analogues in the banking system of any  country," stressed S. Virabyan. He noted that the Bank intends to  apply this approach to other types of lending. Under the new  approach, he explained, Anelik Bank will create a platform for the  formation of a real market interest rate.

S. Virabyan said that the cost of the pilot program will be $ 1  million, under which the minimum loan amount to borrowers is set at $  50 thousand, and the maximum - $ 250 thousand. Loans to legal  entities will be granted with a maturity of 60 months. "Within the  program, potential borrowers need to set the desired interest rate,  starting from 7.7%, in their bids, which will be presented in closed  envelopes of the Bank's Commission on September 4. As a result of the  competition, the Commission will choose the highest of the proposed  ones, which will act for the applicants," he explained. According to  the deputy head of the Board, the competition will be open to the  legal entity that meets the criteria established by the Bank.

Head of the Corporate Product Development Department of the Bank  Anelik Hayk Tumanyan noted that the deadline for submitting  applications is from July 20 to August 20. According to him, the  program does not provide for any restrictions on the number of  applicants and their areas of activity. He stressed that the program  is being implemented to encourage small and medium-sized businesses  in Armenia. The publication of the results of the contest will be  held in the presence of its participants, representatives of the bank  and other officials. In his interview with the correspondent of  ArmInfo A. Tumanyan stated that after changes in the structure of the  shareholders, the Bank changed its strategy somewhat, which  previously focused on the development of retail business. "We have  ambitious plans. Today we changed direction, choosing a balanced  development of retail and corporate portfolios due to market  aggregation and attractiveness of lending to individuals and legal  entities," he stressed. In this regard, A. Tumanian said that in the  near future Anelik Bank will come up with new proposals, presenting  interesting and profitable products for both retail and corporate  clients.

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks, prepared by IA  ArmInfo, the volume of credit investments of the Bank Anelik  increased in 2016 in 3.6 times to 218.8 billion AMD, of which retail  loans accounted for about 13% or 27.7 billion AMD, while corporate  loans accounted for 86% or 188.1 billion AMD. Moreover, the bank  provided such growth in credit investments due to a significant  increase in the corporate portfolio (almost 6 times), sharply jumping  up close to the top three leaders both in the general portfolio and  corporate. This growth in the loan portfolio allowed the bank to  increase assets in the reporting year by 3 times - up to 283.5  million AMD. As a result, the share of the loan portfolio in the  structure of the bank's assets increased from 68% to 77%. Net profit  increased by 5.3 times to Anelik Bank for 1.2 billion AMD in 2016.

To remind. Anelik Bank has been operating on the market since October  1996. After the additional share issue in November 2016, the  membership of the Bank's shareholders changed - the entry of the  Cypriot company FISTOCO LTD with a stake of 59.68% reduced the share  of the former shareholder represented by the Lebanese Bank CreditBank  S.A.L from 100% to 40.32%. Indirect majority shareholders are  physical persons: Tarek J. Khalefe (CreditBank S.A.L) and Vartan  Dilanyan (FISTOCO LTD).