YEREVAN, March 5. /ARKA/. HSBC Bank Armenia intends to expand its branch network in 2012, Astrid Clifford, CEO of the bank, said on Monday.

She told journalists that HSBC Bank Armenia is going to add another branch to its eight branches in Yerevan in the second half of this year.

Clifford also said that the bank will open a branch for VIP clients in the central part of Yerevan in May.

She said that the bank would consider room for opening branches also in provinces in 2013.

It will depend on pace of provinces’ development by that moment, and profitability the bank’s branches.

HSBC Bank Armenia is a member of HSBC Bank plc. It was opened in Armenia in 1996 and is the first international bank in the country. Seventy percent of its shares are owned by HSBC Group and the remaining 30% by Diaspora Armenian investors. The Bank offers a variety of services to individuals and corporate customers.

Today the bank has 398 employees, which serve 35,000 individuals and 5,000 legal entities. The bank has eight branches and offices in Yerevan and more than 50 ATMs. -0-