YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. Astrid Clifford, Chief Executive Officer of HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc, said today the bank plans to offer special privileged banking services to representatives of the Armenian Diaspora. She said a similar pilot project was implemented in 2009 with Russia.

She explained that the project will give Diaspora members an opportunity to open a bank account in Armenia and make use of all banking services, including money transfers, through Internet banking. She said there is an agreement in the bank that no commissions should be charged for all inter-bank remittances.

She said 3 million ethnic Armenians live in Armenia proper and about 8 million outside it. Having in mind that HSBC Group operates in 86 countries, it will be a very serious new market, she said.

‘It will be a serious package of banking services for Armenian Diaspora and we hope to make progress in this area this year,’ Astrid Clifford said.

HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc was the first international bank to open in Armenia in 1996. The bank is a joint venture between the HSBC Group, which has 70 percent ownership, and members of overseas Armenian businesses. The bank offers a wide range of products and services to individual as well as corporate customers, including personal financial services, commercial banking and treasury and capital markets services. Thanks to the HSBC network in 88 countries and territories, the bank is uniquely positioned to provide truly international services for its customers.

As of December 31, 2009 its total assets reached 135.8 billion Drams, liabilities- 118.7 billion Drams, total capital-17.1 billion Drams, chartered capital was 7.6 billion Drams, aggregate credit investments – 63.4 billion Drams, its net profit last year totalled 1.7 billion Drams. ($1 – 386.53 Drams).  -0-