Fitch approved Ardshinbank rating at B+ and improved the forecast from "Negative" to "Sustainable"
ArmInfo. The Fitch International Rating Agency approved the Long-term Issuer Default Rating (IDR), improving at that the forecast from Negative to Positive. This was shared to ArmInfo at the press office of the Bank.
The Fitch Rating Agency justified its estimation by acceptable
financial indicators, supported by recovered economy and
comparatively sustainable currency, the availability of resource
capital and liquidity base, as wel as the essential role of the bank
at the local market ( about 13% market share in assets). The forecast
improvement reflects the expectations of Fitch that potential risks
related to assets quality, coming particularly from restructured/
risk assets, could be slightly accumulated by bank's revenues
without progradation of capital.
According to the source, the recent transaction on Ardshinbank and
Areximbank merge was also mentioned by Fitch. " This merge
(December 2016) has had a neutral impact on Ardshinbank rating,
because Ardshinbank input does not exceed 8% of the consolidated
balance of unified bank, while Areximbank balance before the merge
has been essentially cleared out by former owners", the Fitch rating
report states.
Ardshinbank is granted a rating at the level of the Republic of
Armenia rating, which is the best indicator of the rating for any
private company. The bank is the only private company in the
Republic , which is granted the rating of two international rating
agencies.
To remind, Fitch Ratings works at Armenian market about 15 years. For
now, two Armenian banks are included in the rating-list of the
company - Ameriabank and Ardshinbank.
Ardshinbank" CJSC was founded in 2003. At present, Ardshinbank,
taking into account Areximbank- Gazprombank group, combined with it,
has 72 branches (56 of its own and 16 Areximbank) and a
representative office in Paris. In terms of coverage of the branch
network, Ardshinbank has become the leader since 2017, not only in
terms of the total number of units, but also in the number of
regional branches. The majority shareholder of Ardshinbank is LLC
"Center for Business Investments" with 70,11% equity interest in the
capital and "Region Industrial and Financial Corporation" - 28.10%.