YEREVAN, November 9, /ARKA/. HSBC Bank Armenia continues to maintain its leading position as the largest taxpayer in Armenian banking sector, the bank said in a press release.

It said according to the results of the first three quarters of 2011, the bank ranks 17^th on the list of 1000 largest corporate taxpayers of Armenia. The amount of taxes paid by HSBC Armenia in January-September 2011 totaled AMD 2.5 billion, which is almost 2.7 times higher (a 169% increase) than the volume of taxes paid during the same period of previous year.

The total sum of direct taxes (including income tax) paid by HSBC Armenia during the first three quarters of 2011 made AMD 2.2 billion (205% growth), which is the fifth result among the largest taxpayers.

“Taking into account the seasonality factor, typical of Armenia, we expect an even better performance and results for the fourth quarter, which highlights the bank’s high profitability”, - stated HSBC Bank Armenia Chief Financial Officer Gevorg Tarumyan.

The list of 1,000 largest Armenian corporate taxpayers in the first nine months of 2011 comprised 21 commercial banks, which paid a total of 17.9 billion drams, according to the numbers released by the State Revenue Committee, by 6.1 billion drams more from a year before.

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.

According to ARKA’s data, as of June 30, 2011 HSBC Bank Armenia’s assets totaled 155.2 billion drams, liabilities stood at 128 billion drams, the total capital was about 27.2 billion drams, the authorized capital – 10.4 billion,  its outstanding loan portfolio was  90.8 billion drams, and the liabilities before clients – 109.1 billion drams. In the first half the bank earned about 2.8 billion drams in net profits. -0-