Ameriabank’s profit in 2014 grew by almost 18% to amount AMD 7.1 billion, according to the bank's chief financial officer.

As Gevorg Tarumyan told a Feb 17 news conference, Ameriabank’s profit came amid a downturn trend in the market, with the banking sector seeing its profit drop by 41% in 2014, ARKA reports.

"The past year was dynamic enough; with America showing strong performance throughout the to become the leading bank by all indicators,’ said Tarumyan.

He said the bank's assets grew by almost 27% to around AMD 400 billion, with the banking sector increase rate making up 16%. As he noted, the liabilities increased by more than 29% to AMD 357.4 billion, with the banking sector figure at 18%.

Customer increased grew by 23% to AMD 209 billion, with the sector figure at only 4.8%. Also the increase in the number of individual and corporate customers amounted to 23% and 17% respectively.

The amount of individual deposits rose by 27% to AMD 86 billion, while current accounts grew by almost 17%.

"These figures prove Ameriabank’s reliability as a bank of choice to place deposits, despite relatively low interest rates,’ said Tarumyan.

He also said the bank's credit portfolio rose by 63% to AMD 286 billion, while the figure for the sector was only 21%.

According to him, the growth was due to a 73% rise in lending to small and medium-sized businesses, the bank’s target segment; consumer loans grew by 2.6 times and mortgage lending by 67%.

Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank providing investment, corporate and retail banking services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions. This is the first investment bank in Armenia providing a wide range of innovative banking services since 2007.