Wednesday, September 14 2011 16:26
Visa Student cardholders to speak for 1 AMD per minute within Beeline network
ArmInfo. The Visa Student cardholders of ACBA Credit Agricole Bank will be able to become ArmenTel (Beeline trademark) subscribers and speak to each other within the Beeline at network at a preferential tariff of 1 AMD per minute. Director General of ACBA Credit Agricole Bank, Stepan Gishyan, said at а press conference in Yerevan that the Bank annually plans to issue of about 3 thsd such cards. The annual service of the Visa Student card will cost 3 thsd AMD for the students.
Stepan Gishyan also said that the potential cardholders of Visa Student, i.e. the students will be able to make use of banking and telecommunication services in the preferential regime. In particularity, the students will be able to receive an education loan at the Bank at a lower interest rate - 20% against 22% for the rest of the Bank's customers. In addition, they will participate in the monthly draws of the Bank. Gishyan promised that similar projects in the sphere of card business will be implemented in the future as well.
For his part, Director General of ArmenTel Igor Klimko stressed the peculiarity of the given program and pointed out that for the first time a financial organization and a telecom company are offering a joint solution, and the most important thing is that this solution is meant for students - the most active users of mobile communication. "The unprecedentedly low price of calls inside the network and the affordable prices of services will provide the students with freedom in communication", Klimko said. He added that the program will be recommended for use in other CIS countries as well, depending on the results.
According to ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, the total number of its cardholders is currently about 100 thsd, 30% of which are Visa cardholders. The annual growth of the plastic cards of the Bank is 10-15%.
ArmenTel CJSC is included in VimpelCom Group Ltd comprising communication operators providing voice communication services and data transmission on the basis of a wide spectrum of technologies of wireless and fixed communication, as well as broadband internet. VimpelCom Group includes companies carrying out operations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Georgia, Armenia, Kyrghyzstan, Vietnam and Cambodia in an area with total population of about 345 mln people. The services are provided under the Beeline trademark. VimpelCom OJSC was the first Russian company to be listed at the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE). The company's shares were listed VIP.
To note, ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank has been operating in Armenia since 1996. As of 1 July 2011, the majority shareholders of the Bank are Credit Agricole Group - 16%, SJSC "Sacam International" - 12.44% (member of Credit Agricole S.A.), Farmers Mutual Relief Association of Armavir - 14.08%, and the Farmers Mutual Relief Association of Ararat - 12.28%. In addition, eight more similar associations participate in the Bank's capital with a share ranging from 4% to 7%.
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