OPERATION ON INTERNATIONAL CHIP CARD CARRIED OUT THIS MONTH FOR FIRST
TIME IN ARMENIA

YEREVAN, APRIL 28. ARMINFO. Operation on the international chip card
was carried out this month for the first time in Armenia. Director of
the CJSC Armenian Card Shahen Hovhannisyan reports today speaking at a
meeting dedicated to the 5th anniversary of the National United
Payment System (UPS) ArCa. He says that all the ArCa member-banks will
start serving chip card this year. The work on issue of chip cards
ArCa, Visa and MasterCard will start in 2006 and will be completed in
2007.

He informs that introduction of a number of systems is planned for the
future, that is, transfer of money from card to card, management of
card and bank accounts, replenishment of card account through
cash-dispenser, service of international cards Visa and MasterCard on
the system e-commerce, introduction and exploitation of reserve
processing center etc..

At present, UPS ArCa members are 14 commercial banks, with another 2
having applied for membership (Interinvestbank and Areximbank). The
number of the issued cards ArCa, Visa and MasterCard reaches 70,000,
today, 60 cash-dispensers and 565 chasing in points as well as 10
internet-shop operate. A united system, of communal payments through
Internet and bankomat systems has been introduced. On the whole, since
2001 up to April 26 2005 transactions for 67.2 bln AMD were carried
out on ArCa cards, Hovhannissyan says.