YEREVAN, August 25, / ARKA /. Ten employees of Yerevan-based Areximbank-Gazprombank Group joined today the Ice Bucket Challenge after buckets with ice water were dumped on them on North Avenue in downtown Yerevan in the presence of many witnesses.

The rest of the staff will donate money to charity, according to Alexander Hakobyan, the head of the Russian-owned bank’s advertising and marketing unit, the organizer and a participant of the campaign.

"Under the rules of the social media campaign everyone who posts a video with his/her participation, has the right to name the next participant. We pass the baton to other Armenian banks, "Hakobyan was quoted as saying in a press release.

The ice bucket challenge is a latest social media campaign with a number of celebrities and athletes having  buckets of ice and ice-cold water dumped on them while tagging others to do the same. The “Ice Bucket Challenge” is a fundraiser that aims to raise awareness on amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), a progressive neurodegenerative disease that affects nerve cells in the brain and the spinal cord.

Areximbank - Gazprombank Group founded in 1998 is fully owned by Russian Gazprombank. The bank's assets as of July 1, 2014 stood at 146.5 billion drams, its liabilities – at 124.6 billions rams, credit investments – at 82.6 billion drams and its capital – at 21.9 billion drams. Its net profit in the second quarter of 2014 amounted to 547.6 million drams, an upsurge of 56 percent from the year before.  ($ 1 408.71 drams). -0-