YEREVAN, February 15. /ARKA/. Lending to private enterprises by Armenian banks rose by 17.5% to nearly 910 billion drams in 2012, according to interim financial reports of the banks for Q4.

As of 31 December 2012, lending stood at  1 533,6 billion versus 1 266,5 billion drams from a year earlier. In fact, lending to private enterprises accounted for 59.34% of the aggregate credit portfolio of Armenian banks.

Analyses compiled  by ARKA shows Ameriabank as a top  private entrepreneurship  lender. The share of its loans allocated to the sphere made up 12.7% of total lending to this segment by all other banks, and 78.9% of its own  credit portfolio (or 115.8 billion drams).

The research singled out some other top banks in this category: HSBC Bank Armenia (107.2 billion drams), Armbusinessbank (86.4 billion drams), VTB Bank (Armenia) (85.8 billion drams) and Ardshininvestbank (69.6 billion drams). The share of lending to private enterprises in credit portfolio of these banks was 83.03%, 69.49%, 50.92% and  53.16% respectively.

Some banks also report on allocating loans to small and medium-size enterprises as well as large companies. Ameriabank distributed 93.8 billion drams to large enterprises, and 22 billion drams –to small and medium-size enterprises. HSBC Bank Armenia allocated 75.6 billion drams to large enterprises, and 31.6 billion drams –small and medium-size companies. As to Armbusinessbank, 32.4 billion drams was directed to large enterprises, and 53.9 billion drams –small and medium-size enterprises. VTB Bank (Armenia) earmarked 42.5 billion drams and 43.2 billion drams respectively. Ardshininvestbank –48.8 billion drams and 19.7 billion drams respectively.

As of 31 December 2012 there are 21 commercial banks with 479 branches in Armenia. ($1 – 406.6 drams). —0-