At the Capital Markets Armenia conference on March 14, organized by Cbonds, Ovannes Khachatryan, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia, announced the historic high in the capitalization of Armenian banks.
He noted that during periods of rapid growth in the financial market, the Central Bank of Armenia monitored the situation to avoid potential financial shocks. Counter-cyclical and systemic buffers were strengthened, as reported by armbanks.am.
Khachatryan emphasized that large transactions entering the Armenian market did not lead to serious compliance issues. He also highlighted that banks and investment companies in Armenia operated in accordance with market legislation and standards.
According to the Union of Banks of Armenia, the banking system of the republic generated a profit of 230 billion drams (approximately $570 million) in 2023, decreasing by 23.3 billion drams or 9.2% compared to 2022. The assets of the 18 banks operating in the system amounted to 9.1 trillion drams (about $22.5 billion), liabilities – 7.7 trillion drams ($19.2 billion), capital – 1.5 trillion drams ($3.7 billion), credit investments – 5.2 trillion drams ($13 billion), deposits – 5.7 trillion drams ($14.2 billion).
On July 5, 2023, the Central Bank of Armenia decided to set the countercyclical capital buffer (CCB) at 1.5%, maintaining it at this level in January of the current year. The decision stated that the analysis of the average annual growth rates of consumer loans over the past three years, the decrease in the ratio of consumer loans to GDP in conditions of relatively high GDP growth rates, indicates that significant risk in this sector is currently not considered.
