Monday, July 26 2010 11:15
Unibank increases crediting with plastic cards
ArmInfo. Over the first half-year of 2010, Unibank increased its portfolio of loans by means of plastic cards by 850 mln AMD to 2.8 bln AMD, said Mesrop Hakobyan, Director for Card Business Development, member of Board of the Unibank, in his interview with ArmInfo.
He said the bank actively issues credit cards. Over May-June 2010, 90% of the cards issued by the bank were credit cards. The main component of banking business in XXI century will remain consumer credits, including credits provided by means of credit cards, which seriously diversify the portfolio, he said.
As regards the culture of noncash payments in Armenia, Hakobyan said that some dynamics is already being observed in this sphere. For instance, in 2005 the share of noncash transactions of Unibank made up only 3-5% of the total volume of card transactions of the bank, today it makes up already 10%. "A client making a noncash payment has big probability to receive a loan to his card account, as the bank sees what way the client spends the borrowed funds",- he said.
To note, the shareholders of Unibank are Ripatonso Holdings Limited (Cyprus) with 75,43% of shares, Gagik Zakaryan (12,285%) and Georgy Piskov (12,285%).