YEREVAN, December 6. / ARKA /. The amount of HSBC Bank Armenia’s trade financing in the first ten months of this year surged by 53 percent from a year earlier to 25 billion drams, Aram Pinajyan, head of the Bank’s Commercial Department, told a news conference today. He said HSBC Bank Armenia accounts now for 36 percent of trade financing by local banks.

Pinajyan spoke about annual International Exchange conference, organized by HSBC Commercial Banking, attended also by Armenian companies for which it is a good possibility to establish new trade connections. He said they can use the services of the bank’s trade financing, including letters of credit and bank guarantees.

"The purpose of these conferences is to bring together companies advanced in their field from developed and developing countries and help them share experiences and establish business relations," he said.

For his part, HSBC Bank Armenia Chief Executive Officer, Thies Clemenz, said that this year's conference was attended by three Armenian companies: Manana Grain, an importer of grain and manufacturer of flour, LLC Barsis, specializing in imports of cosmetics and perfumes, and LIA-K Group, engaged in imports and trading of ceramic tiles, porcelain tiles, sanitary ware and other building materials.

Mr. Clemenz said the selection of participants is based on a variety of requirements such as their history on the Armenian market, relationships with the bank, position in their field, pace of development and others.

HSBC was recognized as “The Best Global Trade Finance Bank” for the forth year in a row by Global Trade Review (GTR) magazine in 2011. In GTR’s annual “Leaders in Trade 2011” readers’ poll HSBC also won the “Best Global Export Finance Bank” award, thus becoming the first bank to win both awards in one year.

According to HSBC Bank Armenia, as of September 30, 2012 its net profit amounted to 5.7 billion drams rising by 24% from a year ago, the assets grew by 15 percent from the beginning of the year to 207 billion drams, total loans surged by 23 percent to 133 billion drams, deposits saw an 8 percent rise to 131 billion drams and return on equity was 23 percent.

HSBC Bank Armenia, a member of the HSBC Bank plc is owned by HSBC Europe BV (70%) and Wings Establishment (30%). -0-