YEREVAN, September 7. / ARKA /. Armenian president Serzh Sargsyan and other high-level government officials attended today the official opening of the Pan-Armenian Bank.

"The idea to set up a pan-Armenian bank emerged when president Serzh Sargsyan served as prime minister. It was supposed to offer funds for long-term investment projects,’ chairman and Chief Executive Officer of the new bank, Vahram Nerssisyantz, told journalists.

He said the new bank is not going to compete with commercial banks. According to him, the Pan-Armenian Bank will cooperate with commercial banks and they will complement each other. Vahram Nerssisyantz said the Pan-Armenian Bank plans has already concrete plans to collaborate with Ameriabank and ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank.

He explained that it will provide long-term loans repayable in 10 years, and interest rates will not be too high, but ‘since we are a development bank, we need to balance the role of our financial returns with the role of development", he said.

Nerssisyantz also noted that since the bank will not accept deposits, it will draw its resources from two sources - long-term funds from international financial institutions such as World Bank, IFC, EBRD, European Investment Bank, Asian Development Bank, Eurasian Bank and the second source is to attract the Diaspora resources for which the bank will issue bonds. He said the Pan-Armenian Bank will operate independently of government.

"We are not going to take orders from the government or any government agency, and shall be guided solely by market and economic criteria," he said.

The Pan-Armenian Bank is a development bank and is founded as a public company. Its activities will be regulated by the Central Bank of Armenia. It is a non-profit structure with a chartered capital of $100 million, including $20 million of government share. The priorities will be IT sector, health, education and tourism. –0--