ArmInfo.The net profit of Armenia's banking system by the end of 2025 returned to its natural growth rate of 17% (versus 60% in 2024), exceeding 421.3 billion drams or $1.1 billion. According to the Express Ranking of Armenian Banks as of December 31, 2025, prepared by the ArmInfo information agency, the virtually double-digit growth in net profit has once again been supported by consistently active lending, rather than by temporary short-term factors, as was the case in 2022-2023 during the surge in foreign exchange and card transactions of relocators.
In 2025, the volume of credit investments and other loans reached 7.7 trillion drams ($20.2 billion), with a slight slowdown in growth from 25% to 23%, and an increase in the dominant share of assets from 57% to 60%. This brought assets to 12.8 trillion drams ($33.6 billion) and allowed annual growth not to slow significantly - from 20% to 17%, especially against the backdrop of stalled growth in investments in securities (from 17% to 10%) and balances in nostro accounts (from 15% to 5%), the volume of which almost equaled 2.3 trillion drams ($6.1 billion).
Total liabilities also slowed in annual growth from 20% to 16%, amounting to 10.7 trillion drams ($27.9 billion). Within their structure, the share of liabilities to customers decreased slightly from 70% to 69%, while liabilities to banks and other financial institutions increased slightly from 25% to 27%. Moreover, the volume of liabilities to customers slowed in year-on-year growth from 17% to 14%, exceeding 7.3 trillion drams ($19.2 billion), while liabilities to banks and other financial institutions accelerated from 20% to 23%, reaching 2.9 trillion drams ($7.5 billion).
This dynamic of the main components of assets and liabilities ensured an equal annual growth of 24% in interest income and expenses, reaching $2.8 billion and $1.2 billion, respectively. At the same time, a noticeable slowdown in the growth of non-interest income and expenses was noted, to 3% and 14%, respectively, the volume of which amounted to $944 million and $1.1 billion. This is explained by the fact that the dominant items of interest income and expenses - lending and liabilities to clients - continue to grow at double-digit rates, while the main items of non-interest income and expenses - card transactions and money transfers - began to lose growth more noticeably.
Total capital accelerated in year-on-year growth from 20.1% to 22.4%, reaching 2.2 trillion drams ($5.7 billion). Within this structure, the share of authorized capital decreased from 48% to 46% during the reporting year, while accumulated profit remained at 46%. The absolute values of these amounts were 998.2 billion drams ($2.62 billion) and 990.6 billion drams ($2.59 billion), respectively. Specifically, accumulated profit accelerated in year-on-year growth from 24.4% to 25.1%, which was also observed in authorized capital, from 15% to 18%. The latter was due to six banks replenishing their authorized capital: Ardshinbank (by 95.2% in Q2 2025), AMIO Bank (by 11.8% in Q1 2025), IDBank (by 43.7% in Q3 2025), Fast Bank (by 15% in Q4 2025), Inecobank (by 14.01% in Q4 2025), and Unibank (by 16.02% in Q2 2025 and Q4 2025).
The top 5 banks by key balance sheet indicators in the banking sector remained unchanged. In terms of assets, the top five, with a combined coverage of 62%, are represented by Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, Acba Bank, AMIO Bank, and INECOBANK. Ameriabank, Ardshinbank, Acba Bank, AMIO Bank, and INECOBANK also lead in credit investments, with a total coverage of over 64%. Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, AMIO Bank, INECOBANK, and ArmSwissBank are also in the top 5 in terms of securities investments, accounting for a total of 59%. In terms of customer liabilities, Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, Acba Bank, INECOBANK, and AMIO Bank account for a total of 65%. In terms of total capital, Ardshinbank, Ameriabank, Acba Bank, AMIO Bank, and INECOBANK account for a total of 59%. In terms of net profit for 2025, Ardshinbank holds the lead, Ameriabank is in 2nd place, Acba Bank is in 3rd, INECOBANK is in 4th place, and Evocabank is in 5th place. Together, these five banks generate approximately 71% of the sector's profit.
With the entry of Fast Bank in November 2022, the number of banks in Armenia reached 18, but later in 2024, with the exit of HSBC, the number of banks dropped again to 17. Thus, in 2024, Ardshinbank acquired HSBC Bank Armenia. With HSBC's exit from Armenia, three subsidiaries of foreign banks now operate in the country's banking sector instead of four: VTB (Russia), Mellat (Iran), and Byblos Bank (Lebanon).
Furthermore, the presence of international institutional investors, represented by the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) and the Asian Development Bank (ADB), which had stakes in Ameriabank, has also decreased. Specifically, with the addition of Bank of Georgia Group PLC (BOGG) and JSC Bank of Georgia as Ameriabank shareholders, with a combined 90% stake, the EBRD's stake was reduced to 10%, and ADB's stake was reduced to zero.
(The dram/US dollar exchange rate as of December 31, 2025, was 381.36 drams/$1.)
