YEREVAN, February 16, /ARKA/. Armenian banks’ return on assets (ROA) indicator (showing a company's efficiency in making profits from its assets) rose to 2.37% in the fourth quarter of 2010, up from 2.3% at the end of September, according to findings of an analysis made by ARKA.

The analysis shows that the banks’ return on equity (ROE) indicator rose to 11.01% in the 4-th quarter of last year from 10.66% as of September 30.

The leading bank by size of ROA indicator was Mellat Bank posting a 4.94% index, that was up from 4.12% as of September 30. In terms of ROE Melat Bank came in fifth with a 14.79% index, up from 10.9% as of September 30. The leading bank in terms of

ROE was HSBC Bank Armenia with a 22.59% index that grew from 21.15% at the end of quarter 3. In terms of ROA HSBC Bank Armenia was fourth with a 3.42% index, up from 3.03% as of September 30.

Second in terms of ROA was Inecobank with a 4.37% index against 4.29% at the end of quarter 3. By size of

ROE it came in third with 18.87% , up from 18.36% as of September 30, 2010. Second in terms of ROЕ was Artsakh Bank with a 20% index that was down from 21.86% as of September 30, 2010. Bank VTB (Armenia) was third in terms of ROA with 3.67% index and fourth in terms of ROE with 15.82%. Twenty-one commercial banks operate in Armenia now running 407 branches. -0-