YEREVAN, March 17. /ARKA/. VTB Bank (Armenia) intends to build up this year its lending in Armenian drams in retail segment and to maintain the current amount of its corporate loan portfolio, VTB Bank (Armenia) CEO Yuri Gusev said in an interview with ARKA News Agency.

In his words, after the Armenian national currency took a sharp dive in 2015, the bank revised underwriting criteria in lending for both retail and corporate clients.

“Now we put special emphasis on low-risk segment of clients, and this gives us room to offset the increased this year cost of attraction by lessening expenses on reserves and by offering loans to our clients on more affordable conditions,” the head of the bank said.

It was initially presumed, he said, that this approach will slow down lending and will reduce amounts of lending, but the loan portfolio showed growth already in the second half of 2015.

Gusev said behavior of borrowers changed as well – they became more sensitive to market changes and were cautious and conservative throughout the entire year.

VTB Bank Armenia (Armenian Savings Bank before June 2006) joined VTB Group in April 2004.
VTB, the second largest bank of Russia, holds 100% of shares of VTB Bank (Armenia).

VTB Bank (Armenia) has 67 branches all over Armenia’s territory - the largest branch network in the country. VTB Bank (Armenia) is reckoned among leaders for general indicators.

Its assets totaled AMD 315.8 billion and liabilities AMD 269.8 billion. The bank's loan portfolio amounted to AMD 184.5 billion and capital to AMD 46 billion. ($1 – AMD 487.41). ---0----