YEREVAN, October 15, /ARKA/. IFC, a member of the World Bank Group and Armenian Ameriabank signed a General Interest-Rate and Currency Swap Agreement today for risk management.

Under the agreement, IFC will provide Ameriabank with U.S.-dollar interest-rate swaps and multiple-currency swaps, enabling the bank to better manage its interest-rate risks on borrowed funds as well as currency risks for its euro deposit base, and provide a wider range of deposit products to customers..

“This transaction will help strengthen our risk-management capacity, which is particularly important in the post-crisis period,” said Andrei Shinkevich, Investment Banking Director of Ameriabank.

Tigran Jrbashian, Ameriabank development director, said the bank is attracting loans at floating interest rates, more frequently by using the LIBOR mechanism, while loans to Armenian banks are provided at fixed rates, which contains loss risk from floating exchange rates.

Thomas Lubeck, IFC Regional Head of the Caucasus said: “This is our first swap agreement in Armenia are we are happy to be providing this high-level financial technology. It will provide Ameriabank with important risk management tool and improve the bank’s sustainability.’

He said the IFG has signed similar agreements with 22 countries, including Russia and Georgia. -0-