Tuesday, October 8 2013 15:13
VTB Bank (Armenia) and Visa announce Sochi 2014 Olympic Campaign
ArmInfo. VTB Bank (Armenia) and Visa have announced the launch of the Sochi 2014 Olympic Campaign. Artak Khachatryan, Head of the Retail Business Development Department of VTB Bank (Armenia), said at today's press conference that there will be 100 prizes and the main prize will be a tour for two persons to the Winter Olympic Games 2014 in Sochi.
Khachatryan specified that this is the fourth campaign aimed at stimulating noncash operations with Visa cards.
All Visa cardholders of VTB Bank (Armenia) can take part in the campaign by paying for their purchase via the Visa card from Oct 9 till Nov 30, 2013. Those who collect the biggest number of bonus points (the cardholders receive bonus points for each 1,000 AMD spent via the Visa card) can participate in the prize drawing. There will be 50 certificates for purchase of appliances and 50 certificates for receiving bank products on preferential terms: -1% for a loan or +1% for a deposit.
Katarzyna Sosin, General Manager SEE & CIS at Visa, said that Visa has been the official sponsor of the Olympic Games for 27 years. She pointed out that Visa is the only card to pay for the goods and services in the area of the Olympic Games. This status of the company will be valid during the forthcoming Winter Olympic Games in Sochi in 2014, Summer Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro in 2016, as well as Winter and Summer Olympic Games in 2018 and 2020, respectively. Sosin added that Visa is working actively to develop and expand the infrastructure of acceptance of Visa cards, which will allow the Olympic Games guests and participants to pay for the goods and services in a fast, convenient and safe manner.
As regards the Armenian market of plastic cards, Sosin said that it is developing quite dynamically. In the meantime, she added that 90% of all operations in Armenia are still being carried out by means of cash payments. Sosin is sure that marketing campaigns can improve this situation.
To note, VTB Bank (Armenia) has been a full member of Visa Int. since 2003. The number of Visa cardholders of the Bank is over 280,000 today. By this indicator, the bank is the leader in the market of plastic cards of Armenia. The annual growth in the Bank's cards is 35-40%.
To recall, VTB Bank (Armenia) became a member of VTB Group in April 2004. VTB Bank, the second largest bank in Russia, owns 100% of shares of VTB Bank (Armenia).