YEREVAN, July 9. / ARKA /. Trade finance services provided by HSBC Bank Armenia in the first quarter of 2015 increased by 104% to 19.5 billion drams, while income from trade finance services increased by 41%, head of the Trade Finance Department of the Bank, Kamo Margaryan,- told ARKA.

"Despite an almost 30% drop in Armenia’s foreign trade turnover, the Bank recorded a high rate of growth in trade financing, as evidenced by the first quarter performance indicators," he said.
According to Margaryan, the bulk of the demand is for prime trade finance instruments such as letters of credit, guarantees, collections and factoring.

He also said that documentary letters are in high demand among Armenian customers. In particular, since April last year to this day the bank has issued $42 million worth documentary letters of credit. In 2014 the Bank saw a 300% growth for this tool.

He said today only 5% of Armenia's foreign trade is financed through trade finance tools which means Armenian banks have quite a lot of potential for growth and attracting customers into this area.

HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc was established as a closed joint stock company under the name Midland Armenia Bank J.S.C. in 1996 and was renamed HSBC Bank Armenia cjsc in 1999. The bank is a joint venture between the HSBC Group, which has 70 per cent ownership, and members of overseas Armenian businesses with 30 per cent ownership.

HSBC Armenia serves around 36,000 customers through 10 offices located in Yerevan and around 383 employees. The bank is one of the leading banks in the foreign exchange market in Armenia. As of June 1, 2015 the bank's assets stood at 286 billion drams, its total capital was worth 47.8 billion drams and credit investments were worth 175.5 billion drams. ($1-475.63 drams). -0-