BIO REPORT FOR NERSES YERITSYAN, ACTING HEAD OF

C O N F I D E N T I A L YEREVAN 000660 SIPDIS SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 05/17/2017 TAGS: PGOV PINR ECON INRB AM SUBJECT: BIO REPORT FOR NERSES YERITSYAN, ACTING HEAD OF THE CENTRAL BANK'S FINANCIAL INTELLIGENCE UNIT Classified By: EconOff E. Pelletreau for reasons 1.4 (b,d). ¶1. (C) Nerses Yeritsyan is the Senior Advisor to the Chairman of the Central Bank (CBA) and has been acting head of the Bank's Financial Intelligence Unit since its founding in ¶2005. He served for two terms on the CBA Board and still plays a leading role in many of the bank's non-FIU initiatives, including pension reform and increasing access to banking services for rural Armenians. Before joining the bank, he worked for two years as an assistant for the Dutch Executive Director for the IMF in Washington. He graduated from the Institute of National Economy in Yerevan and holds a doctorate from a joint council representing all economic universities in Armenia. Extremely comfortable in English, Armenia and Russian, he is the Armenian President of the U.S.-based Armenian International Policy Research Group (AIPRG),a sometimes USAID grantee. ¶2. (C) Yeritsyan is smart, dynamic and involved in all manner of activities at the CBA. He has a excellent understanding of the bank's priorities and is the bank's primary spokesperson for western and American audiences. We have found him an effective interlocutor who both grasps the point of our messages and can usually deliver good results. On one occasion, at our request, he froze a bank account in Armenia in support of a U.S. Secret Service (USSS) financial crime investigation in the United States. He was then annoyed after U.S. prosecutors declined to pursue the case. Yeritsayn felt U.S. law enforcement authorities did not do their part in helping him close out the case satisfactorily under Armenian law, leaving him feeling politically exposed for having taken controversial action that went unsupported. ¶3. (C) Yeritsyan seems to enjoy the confidence of the influential CBA Chairman. Yeritsyan has been willing to deal frankly with us on sensitive issues of investigations, banking regulation and intelligence. He has also been candid about the political pressures that can be brought to bear on the CBA over regulatory issues and financial investigations, conceding that the CBA has to proceed cautiously -- and does not always win -- when taking on well-connected financial interests. Yeritsyan is not above obfuscation, however, glossing over issues which he knows or suspects will not be to the U.S. liking, rather than directly admitting that the GOAM has not or will not do as we would like, or plainly stating that his government has a different policy. In such cases, Yeritsyan may indulge in lengthy digressions or seem to miss the main point while focusing on a subsidiary one. ¶4. (C) Yeritsyan appreciates the investments that the USG has made in the CBA, and particularly into getting the FIU off the ground. He brings a refreshing realism to questions of U.S. assistance, not asking for our help as a first resort, and generally puts our investments to productive use -- whether commodities (i.e. computers) or U.S. technical assistance. We expect that Yeritsyan will remain a very prominent player in Armenia's economic development for years to come. GODFREY