Yerevan /Mediamax/. Minister of Economy of Armenia stated that the All-Armenian Bank will become a “global retail bank” and will allow Armenia “saying goodbye to foreign loans”.

Mediamax reports that the Minister said this in an interview to Business New Europe within the framework of the annual EBRD meeting in London.

Nerses Yeritsyan stated that the government wants to turn money transfers to Armenia into capital and will establish a bank for that purpose with branches all over the world. “It is a global retail bank that will target Armenians living overseas,” Minister of Economy of Armenia stated.

“Imagine: if only 1% of all Armenians take a credit card from the new bank, then that will generate enough money for us to say goodbye to [international financial institution] funding forever,” Nerses Yeritsyan stated.

He informed that the government of Armenia contributed $20mln to the capital of the All-Armenian bank, and it also plans to raise another $80mln from the Diaspora.

“It is a way for our Diaspora to take a more active role in the development of the country and at the same time to earn a good return on that growth,” said the Minister.

Nerses Yeritsyan admitted that as a result of the global crisis, a number of Diaspora representatives put on hold their decisions to participate in the capital of the bank. “However, we are confident that they will return and we can push ahead as planned with the bank,” the Minister stressed.