YEREVAN. – The NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange is working with a loss, its General Manager Konstantin Saroyan said during a press conference on Friday.

According to Saroyan, the stock exchange was working with a loss even prior to the financial crisis. And the reason, in his view, is that the exchange has very little profits. And there are two causes for the low profits: First, the rates at the stock exchange are not high; and second, Armenia’s Central Bank (CB) offers other platforms for market trading, and without any fees; and that is why the banks very often prefer CB’s systems.      

“Under other equal terms the banks will prefer the free service. In our view, no service must be free [of charge], since the stock exchange secures a safe and effective mechanism for signing business deals,” Konstantin Saroyan maintained.