YEREVAN, May 8, /ARKA/ Armenia-based commercial banks’ average return on assets (ROA) index, showing a company’s efficiency in making profits from its assets, slipped from 1.84% in the fourth quarter of 2013 to 1.24% in the first quarter of 2014, according to the findings of an analysis made by ARKA news agency.

The leading bank by size of ROA indicator was ArmSwissbank, which posted a 3.81% ROA index in the first quarter of this year, as compared to 2.98% in the fourth quarter last year.

The next in the top five list was Araratbank with 3.43% against 2.75%. It was followed by Inecobank  with 3.43% against 4.21%, HSBC Bank Armenia  with 3.25% against 3.55% and Prometey Bank with 2.463% against 2.53%.

The analysis shows also that the banks’ return on equity (ROE) in the first quarter fell to 7.64% from 11.2% in Q4 2013. In terms of ROE the leading bank was Araratbank with a 21.95% index (compared to 17.17% in Q4 2013), followed by Inecobank – 18.61% (against 23.90%), Armbusinessbank – 18.08% (against 11.71%), HSBC Bank Armenia – 17.98% (against 20.36%) and Ameriabank – 14.91% (against 15.96%). -0-