On Tuesday, August 27, the Board of the Central Bank of Armenia held a regular meeting, during which a significant decision regarding the country's banking sector was made.
The key event was the Central Bank's preliminary approval for Ardshinbank CJSC to acquire a controlling stake in HSBC Bank Armenia CJSC. According to the decision, Ardshinbank will be granted the right to purchase 75% or more of the share capital of HSBC Bank Armenia.
Additionally, during the same meeting, the Central Bank's Board approved the report on the implementation of the monetary policy program for the period from the third quarter of 2023 to the second quarter of 2024.
Earlier, BMG reported that on June 12, the Armenian Competition Protection Commission approved the transaction for the concentration of Ardshinbank and HSBC Bank Armenia. The Commission stated that this deal would not reduce competition or harm consumer interests. The parties agreed that Ardshinbank would purchase 100% of the shares of HSBC Bank Armenia, owned by HSBC Europe BV.
On February 6 of this year, Ardshinbank announced that it had reached an agreement with HSBC Europe B.V., a subsidiary of HSBC Holdings plc, to acquire its subsidiary—HSBC Bank Armenia.
It was noted that the merger aims to expand the high-quality client base and the team of highly skilled client managers and staff.
In turn, HSBC Bank Armenia stated that this decision was made to reallocate capital towards global priorities.
As of the end of 2023, HSBC Bank Armenia ranked 8th in terms of profit, with 11.05 billion AMD (over $25 million), reflecting a 37.86% increase compared to 2022.
At the end of 2023, Ardshinbank was among the top three banks in key indicators: assets (1st place) amounted to 1.6 trillion AMD (over $4.1 billion) (a 4.9% increase from the beginning of the year), liabilities (1st place) reached 1.4 trillion AMD (over $3.5 billion) (a 2.17% increase), total capital (2nd place) was 191.3 billion AMD (over $490 million) (a 31.5% increase), and loan investments (2nd place) totaled 671.6 billion AMD (over $1.7 billion) (a 26.4% increase).
