YEREVAN, January 30. /ARKA/. Armenia needs a few commercial banks with large capital, Bagrat Asatryan, the former chairman of the Central Bank said today. Speaking at a news conference he said the overall number of non-performing loans surged last year, as a result, some of the banks closed the year with losses. In his words, although the overall situation improved last year, however, the Central Bank’s decision that the statutory capital of banks must grow from 5 billion drams to 30 billion drams effective from January 1, 2017, did not produce significant results.
"The decision was a technical step; even 30 billion drams are not sufficient for local banks to enter the global financial market to attract cheap resources," Asatryan said. He said in the neighboring Georgia there is already a bank whose capital is commensurate with Armenia’s entire banking system.
According to Asatryan, the Central Bank should continue pushing for new consolidations and mergers of the banks.

The decision of the Central Bank of Armenia to raise the statutory capital of the banks from 5 billion drams to 30 billion drams, effective from January 1, 2017, prompted mergers and acquisitions. As a result, of 21 banks there remain now 17.

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