Thursday, December 27 2012 15:41
Russlavbank accuses Armenia's CB of protectionism and restriction of competition on the market of international money transfers
ArmInfo. Russlavbank qualifies the Armenian Central Bank's decision to stop the activities of the CONTACT international money transfers and payments system in the country as a protectionist measure aimed at restricting competition on the local market of international money transfers and believes that this will result in growing costs for people wishing to transfer money to Armenia.
In its press statement the Russian bank notes that this may worsen Armenia's investment appeal and may reduce transparency of business in the country. The bank points out that in the early 2000s CONTACT was among the first to lay the foundations of a civilized money transfer market in the CIS, in general, and in Armenia, in particular. Being the system's operator in Armenia, Russlavbank has ever since complied with all the requirements of the local Government and Central Bank and has received no single complaint from either regulators or partners.
Russlavbank regrets the CB's decision and refuses to accept its motives, more specifically, the fact that the operator has violated a number of points of its contracts with its partner Armenian banks and has failed to ensure their access to its system.
Since 2008 the CB has stopped the activities of six international money transfer systems: on Aug 22 2008 Western Union, on July 11 2011 Lider, on Sept 6 2012 Migom, on Oct 9 2012 Zolotaya Korona and on Dec 26 2012 BLIZKO and CONTACT.
According to financial experts, the CB's key motive was that it could not accept the operators' requirement that their systems should not cover the partner banks' branches in Nagorno-Karabakh.
Analyst of AmRating Karina Melikyan told ArmInfo that this requirement was not discussed by the parties when they were signing their contracts and was set by the systems later following the Azeri authorities' groundless demarches and anti-Armenian ultimatums "either we or they."
Armenian Banks: About HSBC, Ardshinbank and Conducting Business in the New Environment of Sanction Restrictions
The sale of HSBC Bank Armenia to Ardshinbank to be completed on November 29, 2024
Armenian government approves 2024-2040 demographic strategy 
Armenia`s economy and state competing for sooner collapse - ex-official