ARMENIAN CB BOARD PERMITS VTB BANK JOIN IN "LEADER" INTERNATIONAL PAYMENT SYSTEM

ARKA
Feb 26, 2008

YEREVAN, February 26. /ARKA/. The RA Central Bank (CB) decided at
its Tuesday meeting, with CB President Tigran Sargssian in chair,
to permit the "VTB Bank" (Armenia) to join in the LEADER payment
system. The "VTB Bank" (formerly "Armsavingsbank") was founded in 1923.

It was in the structure of the USSR State Savings bank before
1993. Later it became the specialized Savings Bank of Armenia.

The Russian VTB Bank is the owner of the "VTB Bank" (Armenia) now.

As of December 31, 2007, the assets of the bank totalled AMD 70.1bln
with capital totalling AMD 20.7bln and the profit for 2007 estimated
at AMD 757.9mln.

The LEADER international payment system allows physical bodies with
no bank accounts to make money transfers. Transfers are made in
Russian roubles, US dollars and euros. LEADER operates in 600 cities
of 15 countries.

In addition to the traditional SWIFT system of quick money transfers,
Armenian commercial banks and non-bank organizations offer quick money
transfer services via Western Union, Money Gram, Anelik, Unistream,
"Quick Mail", Interexpress, Contact, Lider, Migom, Privat Money
Transfer, STB Express, Faster, Travelex, Stefi and other international
systems.