S&P Global Ratings has reaffirmed the 'B+/B' long and short-term issuer credit ratings with a stable outlook of Armenia’s leading bank, Armeriabank.

The rating agency said the affirmation reflected its belief that the “bank's sufficient liquidity, prudent risk management and strong local brand name will enable it to withstand potential stresses from expected macroeconomic contraction resulting from the [coronavirus] COVID-19 pandemic, better than its local and international peers”.

S&P expected that the bank's “capitalization will strengthen further in 2021, supported by capital injections from new investors”. It added: “The base-case scenario is that the bank will maintain a broadly stable deposit base of retail and corporate depositors, and a high liquidity cushion.”

Ameriabank’s  'bb-' Stand-alone Credit Profile (SACP) is one notch higher than  the 'B+' long-term rating, as the latter is constrained by the sovereign's  creditworthiness.

The lender is known as Armenia’s first investment and as a universal bank.

Ameriabank this week reported a Q1 net profit of Armenian dram (AMD) 3bn ($6.26mn) “despite the challenging environment”.

The lender, releasing its unaudited results, also posted a total loan portfolio value of AMD595bn, up by 3% in the year to date and 11.5% y/y, and retail loan portfolio value of AMD196bn, up by 10% ytd and 54% y/y. The retail and SME portfolio share in total loans reached 47%.

The tier 1 and total capital adequacy ratios stood at 11.2% and 13.2%, respectively 

Return on equity (ROE) and return on assets (ROA) stood at 11.6% and 1.3%, respectively

Ameriabank also said its Q1 net interest margin (NIM) remained stable at 4.8% while its cost to income ratio (CIR) improved by 7pp to reach 35%.