David Sargsyan: Ardshinbank`s purchase of "Areximbank-Gazprombank  Group" became a significant transaction for the banking sector and  economy of Armenia

ArmInfo. The acquisition of another major player of the market by one of the largest banks of Armenia, Ardshinbank, in the autumn of last year - "Areximbank - GPB  Group" became a significant transaction for the banking sector and  for the entire Armenian economy as a whole. This was stated in the  interview with ArmInfo correspondent by the financial director of  Ardshinbank, ex-Minister of Finance of Armenia David Sargsyan.

The sign of this acquisition, according to the expert, is that a  purely Armenian bank acquired the subsidiary structure of a large  international institutional player - the Russian Gazprombank, whose  assets significantly exceed the volume of Armenia's GDP. Justifying  his point of view, Sargsyan cited an example from international  practice: "If you look at, for example, the history of Lebanon, the  Middle East country, in fact the financial center of the region, you  will notice that the two largest local banks, such as Bank of Audi  and Byblos Bank, reached the international level and have become  international structures due to the fact of the national subsidiaries  of such world giants as ABN AMRO, Citibank, etc., who left for  various reasons, including due to their insufficient effectiveness,  purchased the Lebanese market. This is where the Lebanese banks began  to build their reputation".  On the other hand, the expert noted that  due to the purchase of Areximbank-GPB Group, Ardshinbank  significantly expanded its presence in the country's regions,  diversified its portfolios, expanded its clientele: "As you know,  Areximbank was very successful in the market of bank cards, being a  pioneer of the banking system In this segment. The first local VISA  cards were released by Areximbank. As a consequence, we have doubled  the number of ATMs and tripled the number of POS terminals. The  reliability of our card products has increased, because now we are  working through two processing centers - local national ArCa and  Russian, which in turn reduces to zero the risks associated with  possible failures in servicing Ardshinbank cards.

Agreeing with the opinion that when buying a Russian subsidiary, the  shareholders of Ardshinbank, figuratively speaking, looked not at the  balance, but at the client base and its infrastructure, Sargsyan  stressed that Areximbank had good retail and mortgage portfolios. "We  do not doubt that Areximbank's former clients will be satisfied with  our services and will remain with us. A few months have passed, but  no former client of Areximbank has so far refused to give up on us.  We understand this responsibility, and we will continue to work to  improve the client-orientedness of the bank and the level of customer  loyalty. Today, at some points of our presence, we are taking  measures to optimize and improve the effectiveness of this presence.  This does not mean that we will close any branches of Areximbank  where Ardshinbank is present. To assess the effectiveness and  measures to improve it, the approach will be. Now we are waiting for  the audit report on the combined balance sheet and proceed to the  next steps, which I will not say for now", said the financial  director of Ardshinbank.

Sargsyan did not disclose the parentheses about the new strategic  development program for the already merged bank. "No, until I  disclose them. I will only say that our bank will remain one of the  main creditors of big business in Armenia. For the time being, we are  holding, and we hope to keep the first place in retail lending, in  the mortgage segment, in the card market, both in quantity and  volume, and in infrastructure. With the purchase of Areximbank, we  significantly strengthened our retail direction. But, at the same  time, we will define measures to increase mutual loyalty in relation  to SMEs by offering the best solutions on the market and products,  creating the most comfortable conditions for small and medium  businesses in these difficult times. This will concern not only the  rates, but importantly, the urgency of the loans to reduce the debt  burden. For this, we have quite inexpensive and long-term resources",  he stressed.