Tuesday, December 21 2010 14:00
V. Yegjiazaryan: Commissions on card transactions in Armenia in 2011 to reduce by 25%
ArmInfo. Commissions on card transactions in Armenia in 2011 will reduce by 25%, Head of Plastic Cards Department of Armeconombank Vardan Yeghiazaryan told ArmInfo. He added that ArCa payment system has recently offered the banks to reduce commissions on card transactions.
He thinks the Armenian market of plastic cards is quite saturated, however, the competition among banks has become more aggressive.
Along with it, Yeghiazaryan said the number of corporate clients of Armeconombank as of December 1, 2010 , reaches 725. Positive balance of their accounts made up 3.890 bln drams and a negative one - over 1.4 bln drams. The number of the bank's active cards as of this date made up 107216 pieces, 78824 of which are ArCa local cards and 28392 - MasterCard. Total number of the bank's active cards since early 2010 grew by 35,2%, also due to activation of wage projects, in the line of which the number of clients from early 2010 to December 1 grew by 14,4%. The bank installed 9 new ATMs and 37 POS-terminals over January-November and bring their total number up to 62 and 257, respectively.
"In 2011 we expect growth of plastic cards by 30,000, the major part of which will fall on international cards. We also plan to increase the number of ATMs by 20 and POS- terminals - by 60", he said and added that Armeconombank has been keeping the leading positions in the banking system by the number of issued plastic cards for many years, and there are all the backgrounds to further secure these positions.
6,5% in the bank's credit portfolio fall on credit cards as of December 1, that exceeds the indicator of the similar period of 2009 by 200 mln drams. Growth of the credit card portfolio by 200 mln drams is expected in 2011, he said.
Along with it, Yeghiazaryan said that Armeconombank, being an agent of the affiliated insurance company "Sil Insurance", started issuing "insurance" plastic cards ArCa, holders of which, having an agreement with an insurance company, will get discounts in car service stations, and with the issue of Visa (in April-May, 2011), the bank plans to extend the spectrum of card products.
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