YEREVAN, May 13./ARKA/. Repo agreements (repurchasing agreements) of Armenia’s commercial banks valued at 36.9 billion drams in the first quarter, which was 19.5% higher from the analogical period a year earlier.

According to the ARKA analysis, the top bank in this category is Armbusinessbank. Its repo agreements accounted for nearly 31.36% of all repo operations made by the Armenian banks. As of March 31, 2013, the volume of this bank’s repo agreements valued at 11.6 billion drams, which was 27% higher from the first quarter of 2012.

The other top banks are: VTB Bank (Armenia) –4.7 billion drams, up by 49.9% (12.68% share), HSBC Bank Armenia– 3.5 bln drams, up by 2.1 times (9.59% share), Artsakhbank– 3.4 bln drams, up by 69.4% (9.18%) and ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE BANK – 3 bln drams, up by almost 6 times (8.13%).

In general, during the reported period, 14 out of 21 banks made repo operations whereas in the first quarter of 2012 there were 13 banks processing the operations.

As of 31 March 2013 there are 21 banks with 465 branches in Armenia. ($1 – 415.25 drams). —0-