ArmInfo. In Armenia, the number of plastic cards increased by 16% per annum to July 1, 2018, to 1.851 million units, against the decline of 9% a year earlier. Adequately, the annual growth in the total volume of plastic transactions sharply accelerated from 7.2% in the first half of 2017 to 23% in the first half of 2018, exceeding 863.5 billion drams. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.
According to the source, the number of local ArCa cards grew by 12.3% year-on-year to 599.4 thousand units, and international Visa and MasterCard - by 19% and 17.3%, respectively - up to 685.2 thousand units. and 522.8 thousand units, with the decline of other international cards (mainly HSBC cards, as well as AmEx and Diners Club) by 3.2% to 43.6 thousand units. A year earlier, in the II quarter of 2017 the number of ArCa decreased by 0.1% per annum, Visa - by 26.6%, other international cards - by 1.1%, with MasterCard growing by 13.6%.
According to the regulator, a sharp jump in the total volume of plastic transactions on the upward trajectory was due to the release of the annual dynamics of transactions on ArCa cards from a 3.4% decline to 11.6% growth and international cards - from a 56.2% decline by 42.2% growth, in parallel with which there was an acceleration in the growth of transactions on Visa cards - from 5.5% to 23% and a slowdown in the growth of MasterCard - from 32.5% to 30.8%. Leadership on the volume of transactions keeps Visa cards - 407.4 billion drams for the first half of this year, second place MasterCard - more than 262 billion drams, on the third ArCa - 178.9 billion drams, and the rest 15.3 bln drams are transactions on other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC).
In the total volume of plastic transactions, the share of non-cash transactions has increased over the past five years from 10.6% to 19.9% (compared to the first half of 2013), exceeding 172.1 bln AMD as of the end of the first half of 2018, due to a significant increase in Internet commerce and undertaken by banks such effective measures to encourage non-cash transactions like CashBack (refunds from purchases). The annual growth in the volume of non-cash plastic transactions, after accelerating the pace in the first half of 2017 from 11.7% to 47.2%, continued to rise in the first half of 2018, slowing down to 36.4%. Quarterly dynamics of this indicator showed an exit from the 2.3% decline in the I quarter on 22% growth in the II quarter, against a similar but more drastic trend change in the same period of a year ago - from a 16.6% decline on 27% growth. In the Armenian plastic market, the share of Visa in the total number of cards in the annual section increased from 36% to 37%, MasterCard from 27.8% to 28.2%, while the share of ArCa decreased from 33.4% to 32.4% %, and the remaining 2.4% (compared to 2.8% a year earlier) are other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC). In the total volume of plastic transactions, the dominant share is also held by Visa - 47.2% (as well as a year earlier), in second place MC - 30.3% (against 28.5% in the first half of 2017), on the third ArCa - 20, 7% (against 22.8% in the first half of 2017), and the remaining 1.8% (versus 1.5% in the first half of 2017) is the share of transactions on other international cards.
As of July 1, 2018, there were 8,237 POS-terminals in Armenia, of which 846 are located in head offices and branches of banks. In the annual section, the total number of POS-terminals increased by 14.7% or 1053 units, against growth of 8.4% or 554 units. a year earlier. Moreover, only for the first half of 2018 the number of POS-terminals increased by 12.8% or 934 units. ATMs on the above date were 1468 pcs. with annual growth of 9% or 121 pcs, against a decline of 10.9% or 164 pcs. a year earlier. It is noteworthy that for the first half of the year 2018 the number of POS terminals in banks and their branches grew by 19% or 135, and in the annual section by 7.1% or 56 pcs. (against growth of 2.3% or 18 pcs a year earlier). It is pertinent to note that the exit of the four banks from the market until 2017 was accompanied by the optimization of their post-terminal network by the banks with which they merged, as existing players already had their own extensive network of poses. The number of trade / service points where ATMs or POS terminals are installed has ceased to be published by the Central Bank since 2015, but at the end of 2014 there were 6619 of which 3694 in retail outlets and 275 in hotels.
It should be noted that the Central Bank of Armenia acts as the majority shareholder of ArCa, then the major shareholders of the organization are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and Ardshinbank, and the remaining 14 banks own 2% of shares. Through its own processing, HSBC Bank Armenia and VTB Bank (Armenia) operate on the card market. Only Armswissbank did not work on the plastic market, but becoming a member of the Armenian Card in the first quarter of 2017 and successfully completing negotiations with MasterCard for membership, he started issuing cards from March 2018.
Recall that since 2017, 17 banks are functioning in Armenia, after ProCredit Bank, BTA Bank, Areximbank-GPB Group and Armenian Development Bank joined the banking market in 2015-2016, merging with INECOBANK, Armeconombank, Ardshinbank and ARARATBANK, respectively .
