YEREVAN, May 19, /ARKA/.  AraratBank and FMO, the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank — highlighting the financial inclusion — signed a loan agreement for a total amount of USD 25 million.

“Our cooperation and journey with FMO are quite impressive. The first USD 15 million Loan Agreement signed in 2014 marked the beginning of cooperation between the two financial institutions. Today, we signed a new loan agreement with FMO, thus, making loan facilities available to micro-enterprises, youth, female entrepreneurs, agribusinesses, and SMEs. The purpose of these loan facilities is to achieve sustainable development goals through expanding financial inclusion, ensuring equal opportunities and reducing inequalities,” said Mher Ananyan, Chairman of the Executive Board of AraratBank.     

"We know AraratBank as a prudent bank with strong risk management and a solid track record. This new facility gives us the opportunity to continue our support to AraratBank and reach out to the more vulnerable part of the Armenian economy during challenging times,’’ said Huib-Jan de Ruijter, Chief Investment Officer a.i. of FMO. 

About FMO 

FMO is the Dutch entrepreneurial development bank. As a leading impact investor, FMO supports sustainable private sector growth in developing countries and emerging markets by investing in ambitious projects and entrepreneurs. FMO believes that a strong private sector leads to economic and social development and has a 50-year proven track-record of empowering people to employ their skills and improve their quality of life. FMO focuses on three sectors that have high development impact: financial institutions, energy, and agribusiness, food & water. With a committed portfolio of EUR 9.7 billion spanning over 85 countries, FMO is one of the larger bilateral private sector development banks globally. 

About AraratBank 

Founded in 1991, AraratBank open joint-stock company is one of the leaders in the Armenian banking sector, providing the latest and highest quality banking services to both individuals and legal entities, applying cutting-edge technologies to develop banking services and creating a special business culture in bank-client relations.

With the innovative banking technologies and best practices of corporate governance, the bank has 53 branches across the country. AraratBank actively participates in the real sector of Armenian economy, particularly in SME lending. AraratBank cooperates with 17 reputable international financial institutions.

By reporting a stable growth of financial indicators year on year, AraratBank takes its unique position in the banking sector of the Republic of Armenia. Thus, as of the performance indicators in Quarter 1, 2021, total assets stood at USD 501.8 million. Loan portfolio stood at USD 281.2 million, with the share of corporate loans totaling 54?8% (USD 154.1 million) and the share of retail loans totaling 47.7% (USD 134.1 million) in the loan portfolio. 

Total liabilities in the reporting period stood at USD 426.3 million. The share of borrowings from IFIs in total liabilities stood at around 30.0% or USD 127.8 million, the share of term deposits stood at 23.5% or USD 100.3 million, while the share of demand deposits stood at 22.4% or USD 95.3 million. In Quarter 1, 2021, the Bank succeeded in reporting growth of term deposits by USD 12.9 million (14.8%).

Total capital — due to devaluation of Armenian dram against U.S. dollar — reported growth of USD 75.5 million as compared to the indicator of the previous year – USD 73.2 million. In Quarter 1, 2021, net profit stood at USD 3.4 million. In Quarter 1, AraratBank provided a capital adequacy of 14.73% and a total liquidity of 27.49%. -0-