YEREVAN, April 27. /ARKA/. Armenian Ameriabank expects its outstanding corporate loan portfolio to surge this year up to 165 billion drams, Ameriabank Development Director Tigran Jrbashyan said today.

He said last year corporate loan portfolio soared by 50% from the previous year to 115 billion drams.
"Today we are the leader in terms of corporate lending and hope to maintain our standing," he said.
According to Jrbashyan, one of the strategic objectives of the bank this year is an increase in lending to small and medium businesses.

"We plan to double the amount of lending to SMEs this year up to 30-31 billion drams from 15 billion drams last year," he said.

He added that the bank plans also to increase lending to individual customers by 60 percent.
According to ARKA data, last year the lending to individual clients amounted to 22.2 billion, representing 16.23% of the total loan portfolio.

Ameriabank is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and limited retail banking services. ($1 - 392.49 drams). -0-