YEREVAN, January 29, /ARKA /. ARKA News Agency has released a recurrent press rating of banks for 2012, which is topped by the following banks: 1. Ameriabank 2. VTB Bank (Armenia), 3. HSBC Bank Armenia 4. Ararat bank and ACBA Credit Agricole bank.

The press rating covers 21 Armenia-based commercial banks. The volume of information about banks in 2012 compared to 2011 decreased by 17%, while the overall total index (OTI) fell to 13,272.96 against 15,896.52.

At the end of 2012 the OTI of the top five banks reached 8,298.2 vs. 9269.8 in late 2011. They accounted for 62.5% of the total annual information about banks.

It is noteworthy that Ameriabank was the leading bank in the press rating for the second consecutive year with a 15.4% share. Its OTI in 2012 amounted to 2,040.6 vs. 3,329.6 in 2011. The second leading bank in the press rating - VTB Bank (Armenia) - accounted for 15.1% of all reports. Its OTI in 2012 was 2,001.9 vs. 1620.4 in 2011.

The third was HSBC Bank Armenia with 1515.2 vs. 943.9 in 2011. It accounted for 11.4% of all information. Araratbank was fourth with 1491.6 vs.1325 (it accounted for 11.2%), and ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK was fifth with 1248.9 vs. 1935.59 (9.4%).

In the fourth quarter of 2012 these five banks accounted for 86.9% of the total banking news, up from 54% in the third quarter. In the fourth quarter of 2012, the OTI of the banks amounted to 3,171.2, an increase of 23.6% compared with III quarter.

This press rating is compiled on the facts about banks’ performance reported by media, excluding advertisements, the veracity of which ARKA can not confirm and therefore it does not recommend it to be used as a sort of a guideline.

The following newspapers were monitored- Golos Armenii, Respublika Armenia, Novoye Vremya, Delovoy Express, Hayastani Hanrapetutyun, Azg, Aravot, Haykakan Zhamanak, Hayots Ashkhar, Iravunk, Yerkir, 168 Zham, , Sobesednik Armenii as well as Internet resources Panarmenian, ARKA, Newsarmenia, Armbanks, Banks, Banker, Arminfo, Panorama, Lragir. -0-