YEREVAN, November 11. /ARKA/. Armenia-based commercial banks’ investments in securities in  the first 9 months of 2016 grew by 41% from the beginning of the year to 374.6 billion drams, according to ARKA news agency’s financial and economic bulletin "Banks of Armenia" (Armenian Banks’ Performance for the Third Quarter 2016).

The banks' investments in securities constituted 10.34% of their combined assets and about 95.3% of the  investments – 357.2 billion drams- were  investments in government bonds.

The top five banks by size of investments in securities were ArmSwissbank, Ameriabank, Ardshinbank, VTB Bank (Armenia) and Araratbank, which accounted for 156.5 billion drams worth investments or 41.7% of all investments in securities.

ArmSwissbank’s investments in securities at the end of September made 41.1% of its total assets, or 40.1 billion drams, a 31.8% surge from the beginning of the year. It should be noted that ArmSwissbank  provides also  investment services often acting as underwriter or market maker.

Ameriabank’s investments amounted to 31.2 billion drams (a 4.6% growth), those of Ardshinbank soared by 39.7% to 30.6 billion drams. VTB Bank (Armenia) investments in securities surged by 36.6% to  27.6 billion drams and those of Araratbank grew by 77.5% to  26.8 billion drams.

The combined assets of 19 Armenia-based commercial banks at the end of September 2016 stood at 3. 621.9 trillion drams, a 4.22% rise from the beginning of the year. -0-