Thursday, August 6 2020 12:27

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the share of  non-cash card transactions remained at the level of 30% in the total  volume of plastic transactions by July 1, 2020. But the y-o-y growth  in the volume of non-cash card transactions slowed down from last  year's 48% to the current 38%, amounting by the results of the first  half of this year to 351 billion drams ($ 728 million). The  preservation of the share, despite the slowdown in volumes, is due to  the activity of Internet commerce, the popularization of mobile and  web applications by banks and Armenian Card, and such effective  measures to encourage non-cash transactions as CashBack. According to  the data of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, five years  earlier (H1 of 2015), the share of non-cash transactions in the total  volume of plastic transactions was 12%, and by July 1, 2019 it had  reached 24%.

At the same time, the total volume of plastic transactions slowed  down the y-o-y growth from last year's 22.3% to the current 12.5%,  amounting to the results of the first half of this year to 1.2  trillion drams ($ 2.5 billion). And the number of plastic cards  increased by July 1, 2020 by 12% per annum - up to 2.446 million  units, against a slightly higher growth a year earlier (18%).

In quarterly terms (for the II quarter of 2020), the dynamics of the  number of plastic cards recorded a reversal from 3% growth towards 1%  decline, while a year earlier, in the same period, there was a slight  acceleration of growth - from 3.5% to 4.3%. At the same time, the  quarterly dynamics of the total volume of plastic transactions shows  an improvement- change from the 10.7% decline in the Q1 by 0.5%  growth in the Q2, which was also observed a year earlier with a more  significant trend reversal - from a 14% decline in Q1 2019 to 19.1%  growth in Q2, 2019. At the same time, the quarterly dynamics of the  volume of non- cash card transactions lingered in a decline with a  slowdown from 6.1% to 1.3%, while a year earlier, a way out of a 0.5%  decline in Q1 was recorded by 20.8% growth in Q2.

According to the source, the number of local ArCa cards slowed down  the y-o-y growth from 13.1% to 7.5%, exceeding 729.1 thousand pieces.  A slowdown in growth was also observed in the number of international  cards: MasterCard - from 8.9% to 8.7% - to 618.7 thousand units, Visa  - from 30.3% to 17.5% - to 1.05 million units. At the same time, the  growth in the number of other international cards (mainly HSBC cards,  as well as AmEx and Diners Club) accelerated - from 0.7% to 9.7%,  exceeding 48.1 thousand pcs.

According to the regulator, the slowdown in the y-o-y rate (H1, 2020  to the H1, 2019) of the total volume of plastic transactions was due  to a significant weakening of the growth in transactions with  international MasterCard cards - from 24.4% to 17.6% and Visa - from  20.6% to 14.9%, as well as a reversal of the dynamics of transactions  on other international cards from a 2.6-fold increase to a 63%  decline. At the same time, the growth of transactions on local ArCa  accelerated too moderately - from 11.2% to 13%.  Nevertheless,  according to the results of the first half of 2020, Visa cards hold  the leadership in terms of the volume of transactions - AMD 564.4  billion, in second place is MasterCard- 383.3 billion drams, on the  third ArCa - 224.7 billion drams, and the rest 14.7 billion drams are  transactions with other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC).

In the Armenian plastic market, the share of Visa in the total number  of cards by July 1, 2020 increased to 43% from 41% a year earlier,  the share of MasterCard decreased slightly - from 26% to 25%, the  share of ArCa also decreased - from 31% to 30%, and the rest are  other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC) which retained 2%. In the  total volume of semi-annual plastic transactions, Visa also holds a  dominant share - 48% (against 47% a year earlier in the first half of  2019), in second place MC - 32% (against 31% in the first half of  2019), in the third place ArCa with 19% , and the remaining 1%  (against 4% in the first half of 2019) are the share of transactions  on other international cards.

As of July 1, 2020, there were 12362 POS terminals in Armenia, of  which 770 are located in the head offices and branches of banks. In  y-o-y terms, the total number of POS terminals increased by 25% or  2466 units, against last year's growth by 20% or 1659 units.  Moreover, In Q2 2020 alone, the number of POS terminals increased by  6.4% or 749 units. There were 1544 ATMs on the above date with a  y-o-y growth of 3% or 38 units, and in Q2 alone the number of ATMs  did not change. It is noteworthy that the number of POS terminals in  banks and their branches increased by 2% or by 14 units in y-o-y  terms (only for the II quarter - by 0.5% or 4 units), against a more  modest growth in the same period of 2019 - by 0.3% or by 2 units.  Since 2015 the Central Bank stopped publishing the number of points  of trade and service where ATMs or POS-terminals are installed.

It should be noted that the majority shareholder of ArCa is the  Central Bank of Armenia, then the major shareholders of the  organization are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and  Ardshinbank, and the remaining 14 banks each own 2% of shares. HSBC  Bank Armenia and VTB Bank (Armenia) operate on the card market  through their own processing. All 17 banks of Armenia operate in the  card market, taking into account Armswissbank, which started issuing  cards only in March 2018.