Armeconombank, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and Ardshininvestbank are the leaders by the number of active plastic cards in Armenia

Arminfo News Agency
2007-05-07 22:35:00

By April 1, 2007, the Armeconombank, the ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank and
the Ardshininvestbank made up the top three by the number of active
plastic cards in Armenia. Shahen Hovhannissyan, the Director of the
Armenian Card CJSC, told ArmInfo correspondent that each of these
banks have issued over 10 thsd cards, particularly, the Armeconombank –
44489, the ACBA- Credit Agricole Bank – 24308, the Ardshininvestbank
– 21292.

According to him, as of April 1, 2007, the fourth place by the
number of active plastic cards was held by the Unibank (17222), the
fifth place – by the Converse Bank (14706). The Inecobank issued
4469 cards, the Araratbank – 3186, the Prometey Bank – 1647, the
Armenian Development Bank (ADB) – 1368, the Cascade Bank – 1159,
the Artsakhbank – 1157.

As of April 1, 2007, a total 158654 active plastic cards were emitted
within the framework of the ArCa National Payment System (NPS) in
Armenia, 100516 of them being local ArCa cards, 13371 – MasterCard,
and 44767 – Visa. The Anelik Bank has the most diversified "card"
portfolio.

It issued 13161 cards, 8439 of them being ArCa, 3427 – MasterCard,
and 1295 – Visa. As of April 1, 2007, the number of commercial banks
that issued cards only under ArCa and MasterCard/Europe systems was
11. They are as follows: the HSBC Bank Armenia (4740 ArCa and 3253
MasterCard), the Armeconbank (41694 ArCa and 2795 MasterCard), the
Inecobank (3268 ArCa and 1201 MasterCard), the Ardshininvestbank
(20327 ArCa and 965 MasterCard), the Prometey Bank (878 ArCa and
769 MasterCard), the Cascade Bank (1087 ArCa and 72 MasterCard),
the Artsakhbank (1029 ArCa and 128 MasterCard), the Armimpexbank
(851 ArCa and 63 MasterCard), the ADB (826 ArCa and 542 MasterCard),
the ITB (638 ArCa and 156 MasterCard). 3 Armenian commercial banks
issued plastic cards only under the ArCa and Visa systems, namely,
the ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (9430 ArCa and 14878 Visa), the Unibank
(2644 ArCa and 14578 Visa) and the Converse Bank (690 ArCa and 14016
Visa). Sh.Hovhannissyan also noted that as of April 1, 2007, most
part of the plastic cards issued in Armenia were Classic (97911),
Electron (30115), Gold (5829) and Standard (5048). The Business and
Platinum cards made up the minority: 473 and 2 respectively.

As of April 1, 2007, there were 1754 POS-terminals, 233 of them being
cash and 1521 – sale. The ACBA – Credit Agricole Bank launched 383
POS-terminals, the Converse Bank – 276, the Anelik Bank – 202. The
number of bancomats was 208, of them 38 belonged to the Converse Bank,
36 – to the Armeconombank, and 30 – to the Unibank.

As of April 1, 2007, 64158 card holders were women, 42774 of them
being ArCa card holders, 13371 – MasterCard, and 16377 – Visa. 94496
cards holders were men, 57742 of them being ArCa card holders, 8364 –
MasterCard, and 28390 – Visa.

To note, as of April 1, 2007, the members of the ArCa NPS were the
Central Bank of Armenia and 18 commercial banks.