Wednesday, September 3 2014

Anelik Bank intends to replenish its capital by 1 bln AMD by late 2014 and start the year 2015 with profit, Nerses Karamanukyan, Chairman of the Board of Anelik Bank, has told ArmInfo when commenting on the Bank's plans to start operating at a profit.    

According to the Financial Rating of Armenian Banks prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), as of 1 July 2014, the accumulated loss of Anelik Bank amounted to 2.3 bln AMD, the net loss in the first half year 2014 totaled 810.5 mln AMD (307.1 mln AMD in Q2 alone). The Bank's loss quarterly dropped by almost 40%, and in the first half 2014 the loss declined almost 2-fold as compared with the first half 2012. As soon as CreditBank S.A.L. (Lebanon) became the sole owner of Anelik Bank (in September 2013 the Lebanese bank's stake increased from 89.95% to 100%), it decided to boost the retail services and SME lending in Anelik Bank's activities. The Bank actively launched retail credit products, including card products on attractive terms and with a facilitated procedure of provision.  This process is still underway and the Bank's products enjoy a big demand. As of 1 July 2014, Anelik Bank took the lead in annual and quarterly growth rates of retail lending - 20-53%. This allowed the Bank to come close to the top ten banks in Armenia. Along with this, Anelik Bank is quite successfully carrying out its plans on boosting the SME lending. In the first half 2014 the Bank increased the SME lending by 84.3% (33-38% quarterly growth). The maintenance of such high growth rates in these dimensions gives grounds to suppose that the Bank will manage to zero its accumulated loss and start operating at a profit not only due to the upcoming capitalization, but also due to the growth of revenues in the balance sheet as a result of active lending. It is also noteworthy that Anelik Bank is implementing a strategy on expansion of its branch network. 

Earlier Nerses Karamanukyan pointed out that the successful implementation of the tasks would allow Anelik Bank to considerably improve its positions and join the top five within the next few years. The management of CreditBank S.A.L., in turn, expressed willingness to help Anelik Bank in every possible way to improve its positions and gain a foothold on the list of Armenia's leading banks. 

To recall, CreditBank S.A.L. (Lebanon) announced its joining Anelik Bank's capital in February 2009. In June 2009 it acquired 51% of the Bank's shares. As a result, the share of each of the previous four shareholders dropped from 25% to 12.25%. Afterwards, in Q2 2011 one of the shareholders withdrew from Anelik Bank's capital and the Lebanese bank's stake grew to 69.5%. In Q3 2012 CreditBank S.A.L.  increased its stake to 89.95%. In October 2013 the Lebanese bank's stake rose from 89.95% to 100%, and retail services and SME lending became the priorities in the Bank's activities. Credit Bank, which has been operating in the financial market of the Middle East for over 30 years, has assets worth almost $2.5 bln and 20 branches in Lebanon. 
To note, as of 1 July 2014, the total capital of Anelik Bank amounted to 12.3 bln AMD, assets - 69.2 bln AMD, lending - 47.4 bln AMD (68.5% of the Bank's assets), liabilities - 56.9 bln AMD. The share of time deposits was 56.9% or 32.4 bln AMD, with over 85% of this amount being the funds of individuals. Anelik Bank participates in almost all the international credit programs being implemented in Armenia via the banking system, as well as in the state programs subsidized by the Armenian Government. Anelik Bank was the first in the card market of Armenia to launch and service Visa and MasterCards simultaneously with the local cards.