YEREVAN, February 10, /ARKA/. ProCredit Bank’s assets last year grew by 66%, while the banking sector’s assets grew on average by 30%, a deputy chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Council Vache Gabrielian, said Tuesday at a ceremony marking the second anniversary of the bank’s inception in Armenia.

He praised the bank for placing emphasis on lending to very small, small, and medium-sized businesses and developing a savings culture among ordinary people.
“From this perspective the experience of ProCredit bank and its technology are very important,’ he said, adding that the bank has found its firm place in the system.

He said though the past year was difficult the banking system made its weighty contribution to crediting the economy reporting a 14% credit portfolio growth ProCredit Bank said yesterday its credit portfolio has grown to $32.4 million and the amount of individual deposits to $18.3 million. The bank said it has also 9,700 customers.

Christoph Freytag, ProCredit Bank board chairman, said the bank and its personnel are ready to overcome any difficulty to help develop Armenian economy.
The shareholders of ProCredit Bank are ProCredit Holding AG, the majority shareholder, with a 66.66% stake; KfW, which holds 16.67% of the shares; and the EBRD, which holds 16.67% of the shares.

ProCredit Bank in Armenia is part of the ProCredit group, which consists of 22 financial institutions in Eastern Europe, Africa, and Latin America. According to ARKA’s data, at the end of 2009 ProCredit bank’s assets totaled 17 billion Drams, liabilities – 11.5 billion Drams, aggregate capital – 5.5 billion Drams, credit investments – 12.3 billion Drams, liabilities towards clients – 6.7 billion Drams. It earned 41.9 million drams in net profits last year. The bank has eight branches. ($1-378.52 Drams). -0-