YEREVAN, 10 November. / ARKA /. The net interest income of Armenian banks in the first nine months of this year increased by 25.4% to more than 73.5 billion drams. The interest incomes increased by 29.4% to 129.4 billion drams, while interest expenses rose by 35.1% to over 55.8 billion drams, according to the interim financial reports of banks for the third quarter of 2011.

The leading bank by size of net interest income was ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, which accounted for 14.1% of the aggregate net interest income.

The list of top five banks in terms of net interest income included also HSBC Bank Armenia (about 8.6 billion drams), Bank VTB (Armenia) (more than 7.8 billion drams), Ardshininvestbank (about 6.5 billion drams) and Ameriabank (about 6.1 billion drams).

Bank Mellat reported 605.5 million drams losses in net interest income with 985.9 million drams of interest income and 1.3 billion drams of interest expenses. There are 21 banks in Armenia. ($1 - 383.91 AMD). -0-