Armenian banks are growing at a steady clip as a booming domestic economy lifts profitability, liquidity and capitalisation across the financial system. Surging immigration and capital inflows from Russia, stemming from the war in Ukraine, combined with a higher interest rate environment, have played a considerable role in this performance.
Rating agency Fitch’s research finds most lenders have benefited from higher non-interest income due to money transfers and currency conversion operations from newly arrived immigrants, and that profitability has been “underpinned by higher interest rates”.