VTB Bank (Armenia) resumes service of transfers from card to card via Visa Direct system

ArmInfo. Starting from July 21 holders of Visa cards of VTB Bank (Armenia) will receive an opportunity to make transfers via Visa Direct system to Visa cards issued not only by the VTB Bank (Armenia) but also by local and international banks. The press-service of the bank has told ArmInfo that transfers can be made 24 hours a day via 157 ATMs of VTB Bank (Armenia) with a 0.9-2% fee from the transfer amount.

According to the source for making monetary transfer to VTB Bank (Armenia) cards it is necessary to just know the number of the card owned by the recipient. In order to make transfers on the cards issued by other banks (local and international) it is necessary to present to the Bank name and surname and 16-digit number of the card of the transfer recipient by sending an sms message on number 2700 and indicating the data of the recipient in the following format: C2C 5450570001075245 AVAG AVAGYAN (for example) or provide the same data by calling the Call Center on 8787 number in the working hours or the Processing Center during non-working hours (+374 10) 56 07 08. Transfers can be made by also visiting any branch of the Bank.

The recipient will receive the transferred money in several minutes or two bank days depending on the technical capacities of the bank servicing the card of the recipient. At the same time transfers on Visa cards issued by VTB Bank (Armenia) and international banks can be made in 4 currencies: AMD, RUR, USD and EUR, while transfers on the cards issued by Armenian banks can be made in AMD.

According to ArmInfo's Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card Business", VTB Bank (Armenia) retains leadership on the market of plastic cards both by the number of cards and the amount of transactions. By 1 April 2016, the number of active cards of the Bank made up 496.6 thsd and the total amount of transactions in 2015 exceeded 210.3 bln AMD. The Bank has the biggest number of Visa cards - over 418.2 thsd by 1 April 2016, and the biggest number of MasterCards (over 78.3 thsd). Due to the serious (almost 5-fold) year-over-year growth in active MasterCards amid moderate (8.7%) rise in active Visa cards, VTB Bank (Armenia) increased the total number of active cards by 23.8%. As a result, the amount of transactions with cards grew by 12.8% over year, mostly due to the 21.3% growth in ATM transactions.  By 1 April 2016, the share of Visa cards in the total number of active cards exceeded 84%.  As of 1 April 2016, VTB Bank (Armenia) had 157 ATMs, including 78 in Yerevan and 79 in the provinces.  The Bank has considerably enlarged its own network of POS-terminals - from 298 to 345. In addition, VTB Bank (Armenia) and ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE Bank have created a joint ATM network, offering the holders of Visa and MasterCard issued by VTB Bank (Armenia) to make use of ACBA-CREDIT AGRICOLE Bank at the same tariffs as in VTB Bank (Armenia) and vice versa. The joint network has 345 ATMs throughout Armenia.  The Bank holds the second position by the number of ATMs and it has joined the top ten by the number of its own POS-terminals.

To note, before 2013 VTB Bank (Armenia) issued and serviced only Visa cards. In September 2013, it became a full member of MasterCard Worldwide and started issuing and servicing Cirrus/Maestro, MasterCard Standard and MasterCard Gold cards. The Bank also services ArCa local cards. VTB Bank (Armenia) joined VTB Group in April 2004 and is fully owned by VTB Group, the second biggest bank in Russia. VTB Bank (Armenia) is one of the leaders of Armenia's banking sector. It has 67 branches all over the country (the largest branch network in Armenia).