YEREVAN, July 3. /ARKA/. An extraordinary general meeting of shareholders of Areximbank-Gazprombank Group on June 30 decided to increase the bank’s authorized capital stock by over 4.7 billion drams which is the equivalent of $10 million, the bank said in a press release.

Areximbank-Gazprombank Group’s sole shareholder is Russian Gazprombank that will issue 90,400 additional ordinary shares to increase the bank’s authorized capital stock to about 30.6 billion drams or about $65 million.

This is expected to make Areximbank-Gazprombank Group a leader in the banking sector of Armenia in terms of authorized capital stock size.

The move is meant to meet Armenian Central Bank’s decision raising the minimum capital of local commercial banks from current 5 billion to 30 billion drams effective from January 1, 2017.
Earlier this year, in 2015 January, Gazprombank had already increased the authorized capital stock of its Armenian subsidiary by 9.4 billion drams or $20 million.

Areximbank- Gazprombank Group has become the sixth of 21 operating banks in Armenia to meet the regulator’s revised requirement.

"Prospects of economic cooperation between Russia and Armenia within the single economic and customs space make investments by large Russian investors in the banking sector of Armenia highly attractive, including investments by Gazprombank. Despite the crisis, the shareholder has set serious tasks for the bank for introduction of new interesting projects and offers for customers,” the press release says.

Gazprombank is one of the three largest banks in Russia, and the sole shareholder in Areximbank- Gazprombank Group.

Currently Areximbank is actively developing cash and settlement transactions, lending, project financing, SME financing, providing also a wide range of services to individual customers
Areximbank - Gazprombank Group was founded in 1998.

The Bank's capital as of April 1, 2015 stood at 25.5 billion drams, having increased by 60% form the beginning of the year; its authorized capital was worth 25.8 billion drams. The assets of the bank amounted to 107.3 billion drams, liabilities to 81.7 billion drams and credit investments to about 67.5 billion drams. ($ 1- 472.45 drams). - 0-