![\"Confetti](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Screenshot2026-08-1710.59.12.jpeg\")
\t\tLion Finance joined the FTSE 100 this year. (Image: LSE)\t<\/p>\n\t\t\tMonday 17 August 2026 11:48 am
\n\t\t\t\t\t\u00a0|\u00a0\u00a0Updated:\u00a0<\/p>\n
\t\t\tMonday 17 August 2026 11:49 am\n\t<\/p>\n
\t\tLion Finance joined the FTSE 100 this year. (Image: LSE)\t<\/p>\n
Lion Finance thought of itself as the London Stock Exchange\u2019s wallflower. But after its promotion<\/a> the the market\u2019s blue-chip index earlier this year, the bank is finally getting noticed.<\/p>\n Shares in the group formerly known as Bank of Georgia<\/a> have enjoyed a quiet ascent since the beginning of 2022.<\/p>\n In that four-year window the stock has climbed over 500 per cent to the 13,348.13p it trades at today.\u00a0<\/p>\n But before this, the bank spent years glued to the wall after first floating in 2012 at 666p and fluctuating around the 1,000p mark until 2021.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe have been ignored for most of our life,\u201d Archil Gachechiladze, the group\u2019s chief executive, tells City AM.<\/p>\n That changed in March when the bank secured blue-chip status with a promotion to the FTSE 100 following its quiet, multi-year surge.<\/p>\n The promotion made Gachechiladze one of the longest-serving blue-chip bank bosses \u2013 second only to Standard Chartered\u2019s Bill Winters. It also made him the youngest chief executive of a FTSE 100 company.\u00a0<\/p>\n He describes the entrance as having led to \u201csudden increased\u201d interest. More than 200 investors are said to have expressed interest in attending the group\u2019s capital markets event in June within a day of the invite being sent.\u00a0<\/p>\n Just last week, Lion Finance gave its backers another reason to cheer after earnings breezed past market estimates. The post-results rally lifted the stock to gain of over 40 per cent for the year-to-date, making it one of the top performing blue-chips this year.\u00a0<\/p>\n Investors do their homework<\/p>\n \u201cMore people and more funds have decided that it\u2019s worth it for them to do the homework in terms of studying the macro,\u201d Gachechiladze says.<\/p>\n The macro he references rests in Armenia and Georgia, the two dominant markets for Lion Finance and the latter of which Gachechiladze was born and raised.<\/p>\n \u201cIn a nutshell, it\u2019s two economies that are growing very strongly\u2026 both are showing fantastic results,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s profit hit GEL618.8m (\u00a3175m) for the second quarter, a 21 per cent rise year-on-year and five per cent ahead of market expectations.<\/p>\n That came after a combination of high net interest income, an expanding loan book and better-than-expected fee income helped more-than offset some higher cost-of-risk and operating expenses.<\/p>\n But the extra assignment for investors goes beyond the balance sheet. Georgia is currently facing a political crisis over its democratic future,<\/a> following the Georgian Dream party claiming victory in disputed parliamentary elections and passing controversial foreign influence laws.<\/p>\n The saga has stalled Georgia\u2019s ambitions for European integration and has led to closer ties with Moscow. It has ignited waves of major on-going pro-Western street protests, which have been met with police crackdowns.\u00a0<\/p>\n \t\t\t\t\tRead more<\/p>\n \t\t\tStamp duty on shares is \u2018biggest handbrake\u2019 says UK bank chief<\/a><\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t affect our business directly,\u201d Gachechiladze says,\u00a0instead suggesting that \u201cif anything, the economy has been doing very well.\u201d<\/p>\n Asked on risk positioning in regards to the domestic turmoil, he says the group has not \u201cfelt any economic headwinds\u201d.<\/p>\n One of the financial sectors \u2018most attractive\u2019 stocks<\/p>\n Analysts too are remaining unphased by the developments and have bet heavily on the firm.<\/p>\n Jens Ehrenberg, who heads up financials research at Cavendish, said he was \u201cencouraged by persistently strong growth across the group\u2019s markets\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe Lion Finance Group remains one of the most attractive stocks in our sector,\u201d he bullishly added and labelled the stock a \u2018Buy.\u2019<\/p>\n Ben Maher, market analyst at KBW, said the bank \u201ccontinues to deliver in the right areas\u201d.<\/p>\n Both set a target price for the group at around 13,500p.\u00a0<\/p>\n![\"Protester](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/gettyimages-2188210640-1140x760-1.jpeg\")
The Georgia political crisis has rumbled on for two years. Image: Getty<\/p>\n