Armenian banks do not transfer capital from Syria to Armenia. Syrian-Armenians are not able to open bank accounts in Armenia and transfer their money on it.
Komitas Mirjanyan has moved from Syria to Armenia with his family 2.5 months ago. They have sold their house and property but they managed to bring the money to Armenia with great difficulty with the help of several mediators.
Mirjanyan says he has turned to HSBC and Byblos and they refused to help.
“They didn’t give any reasons saying they don’t open account now. I have a Persian-Armenian friend here; he opened account and sent the money to his account. Now the money is saved in an account with his name”, in the interview with “Freedom” radio station said Mirjanyan.
Artin Arakelyan, who moved from Persia to Armenia several years ago, faced the same problem; he couldn’t open an account in any bank until he got RA citizenship. According to his words a great number of Armenians cannot bring their capital to Armenia.
“They have two main problems now; both in Syria and Armenia. They can’t take their money out of Syria. They have to take it somehow to Lebanon and then to Armenia by means of international banks. The matter is that Armenian banks don’t have a right to open an account for Syrian-Armenians. It creates another problem for them. As they must have a very good relative to send the money to his account”, said Arakelyan.
Responding to “Freedom” radio station’s question why Armenian banks refuse to open accounts especially for Syrian and Persian citizens, the central bank answered that there are no limits concerning the accounts for the citizens of other countries according to the Armenian Law.
