Wednesday, September 14 2011 17:40
Commercial banks of Armenia annually reduce issue of Visa cards by 55.9% and increase issue of MasterCards 2.4 times
ArmInfo. In August 2011 the commercial banks of Armenia issued a total of 24,170 cards within the frames of the ArCa national processing, this index being by 8.8% higher than in August 2010. The total number of active cards as of late August 2011 amounted to 673.4 thsd cards against 528 thsd cards in August 2010 (27.6% annual growth).
Armenian Card told ArmInfo that over August 2011 the banks issued 9037 ArCa cards (83.5% annual growth), 9239 MasterCards (2.4-fold annual growth), 5894 Visa cards (55.9% annual decline).
In the structure of active cards, MasterCard is in the lead in terms of annual growth (Aug 2011 vs Aug 2010) - by 56.9% to 138.3 thsd cards as of September 1. Visa cards rank next - by 32.4% to 187.9 thsd cards. ArCa cards hold the third position - by 16.6% to 347.3 thsd cards.
According to Armenian Card, in August operations with 433.4 thsd cards or 64% of the total number of active cards (27.1% annual growth), including 249 thsd ArCa cards or 72% of total number of active ArCa cards (20.1% annual growth), 113 thsd Visa cards or 60% (35.3% annual growth), 71.5 thsd MasterCards or 52% (42% annual growth).
As of 1 September 2011, there were 769 ATMs in Armenia (20.9% annual growth). To note, the majority shareholder of ArCa is the Central Bank of Armenia. The other large shareholders are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and Ardshininvestbank. The other 14 commercial banks of Armenia own 2% of shares each.
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