Thursday, March 6 2014 18:34
Over past three years average amount of one transaction on Armenian card market increased from 49 thsd AMD to 54 thsd AMD
ArmInfo. In 2013 the number of payment cards on the Armenian market increased by 18.6% to 1.6 mln. The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) reports that in Q4 2013 this index grew by 36 thsd or by 2.4%.
The source says that in 2013 the number of local ArCa cards increased by 14.7% (down 0.4% in Q4 2013 versus Q3 2013), international Visa cards - by 25.3% (up 4.4% versus Q3 2013), MasterCard - by 13.3% (up 1.9% versus Q3 2013). By 1 Jan 2014, the number of ArCa cards totaled 564503, Visa - 652398, and MasterCard - 299815. Their shares in the total cards made up 36%, 42% and 19%, respectively.
According to the CBA, a total of 20.5 mln card transactions (up 9.3% than in 2012) worth a total of 1.1 trln AMD (up 12.4% versus 2012) were carried out in 2013. In Q4 alone the number of transactions rose by 8.3%, and the amount of transactions - by 7.6%. In 2010-2013, the average amount of one transaction rose from 49 thsd AMD to 54 thsd AMD (3% annual growth).
In 2013 the number of transactions with ArCa cards totaled 6.6 mln and their amount reached 281.7 bln AMD. Transactions with Visa cards numbered 8.9 mln and amounted to 570.4 bln AMD, while transactions with MasterCards numbered 3.8 mln and amounted to 180.1 bln AMD. The remaining 1.1 mln transactions worth 75.9 bln AMD were carried out with other cards (mostly HSBC-cards and partly AmEx cards). In 2013 Visa ensured the highest growth in transactions - by 23.3%. MasterCard demonstrated 11.2% growth, while ArCa demonstrated 3.2% decline. In 2011-2013 transactions with Visa cards tripled, those with MasterCards doubled, while transactions with ArCa cards grew by 32.3%. In Q4 2013 ArCa showed 16.3% growth in transactions, MasterCard - 11.7% growth and Visa - 3.6% growth.
As of 1 Jan 2014, there were 6834 POS terminals in Armenia, with 670 of them at the head offices and branches of the banks. In 2013 the total number of POS terminals rose by 2.4% or 160. In Q4 alone the POS terminals at the banks grew by 12. Since 2009 POS terminals increased in number more than 2-fold or by 4114. In 2013 there were 1255 ATMs (7.3% or 85 more than in 2012), of which 32 were installed in Q4 2013. Since 2009 the number of ATMs grew by 553 (almost 2-fold). In 2013 there were 6884 trade outlets and cash withdrawal points against 6499 in 2012 (in 2009 - 2817, in 2010 - 3621, in 2011 - 5001). 568 of them were at the banks and their branches, 240 - at the hotels, 4064 - at retail facilities.
To recall, the majority shareholder of ArCa is the Central Bank of Armenia. Other principal shareholders are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and Ardshininvestbank. The other shareholders own a 2% stake each.
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