YEREVAN, July 15. /ARKA/. VTB Bank (Armenia) said today that customers who will sign insurance contracts against accidents along with signing loan contracts called «Universal" without collateral or gold-secured loans, will be provided with 1-1.5% discount on loan rates.

The "Universal" loan is provided for a period of up 5 years with annual interest rates ranging from 17% to 24%. The loan amount is from 100,000 to 4 million drams.

The application for gold-secured loan is processed within 20 minutes requiring only one visit to the bank. The maximum loan amount is 3 million drams. The interest rate starts from 22%, the bank said.

More information on the terms of loans and accident insurance can be obtained at any branch of VTB Bank (Armenia), by calling 87-87 or by visiting the official website of the bank at www.vtb.am.

The bank's assets grew by 1.48% in the first quarter from the beginning of the year to  314.7 billion drams; its  liabilities increased by 1.29% to 272.7 billion drams; its total capital grew by 2.7% to 42 billion drams and its credit investments fell by 3.67% to 176.9 billion drams.

VTB Bank (Armenia) was entirely acquired by Russian VTB Group in 2004. It runs 67 branches across Armenia, more than any other local bank. ($ 1 - 477.41 drams). -0-