Ameriabank offers ArCa-MIR co-brand cards with flexible tariffs

ArmInfo. Ameriabank offers "ArCa Mir" co-branded payment cards on flexible and competitive terms.

As the press service of the Bank explained to ArmInfo, the annual service fee is 2500 AMD, cashing from the card at the issuing bank of the issuing bank is free of charge, replenishment of the card account at Ameriabank or at its ATMs is free of charge, in case of transactions amounting to more than 10,000 AMD, an SMS is sent. For more details, please see the link http://ameriabank.am/userfiles/file/ArcaMir/arm.html.

According to the source, one can also order the ArCa Mir card online directly from Ameriabank's website at http://ameriabank.am/card/.

The source notes that Ameriabank is available to customers in 24/7 mode, and if there are problems with the "ArCa Mir" card, the cardholder can call the round-the-clock reference number 561111 and receive the necessary assistance.

On July 7, 2017 the Central Bank of Armenia included the Russian national payment card system MIR in the register of active payment and settlement systems, and simultaneously gave permission to the Armenian Card payment and settlement organization to participate in the MIR system. The project of inter-system interaction assumes mutual acceptance of cards of national payment systems in the infrastructures of two countries: ArCa cards in Russia, maps "MIR" in Armenia. The project also provides for the production of ArCa-MIR co-branded cards. 16 banks operating on the ArCa infrastructure are technically able to issue such cards, and Ardshinbank (since September), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (since October) and Ameriabank (in the second decade of October) have already launched the issue of ArCa-MIR. The MIR- ArCa project is the first in the EAEU area, which demonstrates the high level of Armenia-Russia cooperation aimed at high-quality service to citizens of the two countries, increasing the volume of non- cash payments, and expanding the geography of plastic operations on the cards of national payment systems. The Eurasian Economic Union includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan.

The need to create a national payment system (NSPC) on the cards arose in the summer of 2014, when Visa and MasterCard, due to US sanctions against Russia, stopped servicing the cards of a number of Russian banks. On June 3, 2016, an agreement of intent was signed between Armenian Card CJSC (operator of Armenia's payment system ArCa) and JSC NSPK (operator of the Russian payment system Mir), providing for mutual servicing of ArCa and Mir payment systems in payment infrastructures their participants.

According to the analytical review "Armenian Banks in the Card Business", prepared by NA ArmInfo, Ameriabank as of April 1, 2017 has about 76 thousand pieces of active cards, of which more than 55,000 are Visa, about 14,000 are MasterCard and almost 7,000 are local ArCa. On an annual basis, the bank increased the number of cards by 10.4%, mainly due to the increase in international Visa and MasterCard.  According to the total volume of plastic transactions Ameriabank is included in TOP-5, and by the number of its own POS-terminals - in TOP-3 - 1355 pcs. (with an annual growth of 42.5% or 404 units). The bank has 108 ATMs, 84 of which are installed in Yerevan, and the remaining 24 - in the regions. Ameriabank has 13 branches, 8 of which are located in Yerevan. ZAO Ameriabank is a universal bank that provides investment, corporate and retail banking services in the form of a comprehensive package of banking solutions. The bank's shareholders are Ameri Group - 65.8%, EBRD - 20.7%, ESPS Holding Limited - 13.5%.