"ARMECONOMBANK" STARTS ISSUING MASTERCARD AND CIRRUS MAESTRO CHIP CARDS

Mediamax, Armenia
Feb 14 2007

Yerevan, February 14 /Mediamax/. "Armeconombank" starts issuing
MasterCard Gold/Chip and Cirrus Maestro/Chip chip cards.

As Mediamax was told in the press service of "Armeconombank", "these
cards are protected from any kind of falsifications and provide
absolute security both during cash and non-cash operations".

In December 2006, in interviews to Mediamax, representatives of
"ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank", "Armbusinessbank", "Armenian Development
Bank", "Cascade Bank" "VTB-Armenia Bank", "Unibank" and "Artsakhbank"
also talked about their intentions to issue chip plastic cards in 2007.

In "Ardshininvestbank", "Armswissbank", "Areximbank", "Bank Anelik",
"Prometey Bank", "BTA-Investbank", "Inecobank", "ITB-International
Bank" and "Converse Bank" they stated that there are plans to start
issuing chip cards in 2007-2008.