Wednesday, October 1 2014

 Ameriabank anticipates a 50% growth of trade finance portfolio in 2015, Suren Kocharyan, Department of Trade Finance at Ameriabank CJSC, told reporters, on sidelines of a conference on the trade finance sector of Armenia, Wednesday.  

Talking to ArmInfo, he said the Bank's trade finance portfolio growth 30%-50% annually, both in terms of the volume and the number transactions. The Bank's trade finance portfolio amounts to $130 million at present with a 47% year-over-year growth. Ameriabank  accounts for over 50% of the trade finance market in Armenia. 

"The Bank launched trade finance in 2008 and achieved success in the field, winning a series of awards from authoritative  international finance organizations," Kocharyan said spotlighting the latest award "Deal of the Year 2013" granted by EBRD as part of the Trade Facilitation Programme.  
Generally, Ameriabank forecasts a significant growth of trade finance volumes in Armenia with anticipated increase of exports from Armenia following the West's sanctions against Russia. 

"This will stimulate the export growth and application of trade finance instruments," Kocharyan explained.  According to him, the given sector has been rapidly growing in Armenia for the last few years. "Trade finance instruments have become more accessible to businessmen, who enjoy more favorable and flexible terms for both export and import.  In this light, he said the Bank assigns high priority to SME development and provide financing on lower interests and longer maturity terms in the field. The bank displays personal approach to the given category of its customers, offering customized models of financing depending on business specifics," Kocharyan said.

He added that Ameriabank has leading positions in the market of factoring and has won a series of awards from international organizations for active factoring services.  "This obliges the Bank to keep improving its positions and contributing to development of the factoring market in Armenia," Kocharyan said. 

EBRD jointly with the EU organized a two-day conference on trade finance in Armenia.  The goal of the event is to inform the local SMEs of the advantages of trade finance instruments and the ways to make them more accessible.  The event has brought together over 150 participants, including leading experts from many countries.  
Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank providing a full package of banking solutions. The sole owner of the bank is Ameria Group CY Ltd.