ArmInfo.In Armenia, the double-digit growth in the number of vPOS-terminals continues, along with regular POS-terminals. In Q4 2022, compared to the same period in 2021, the number of vPOS-terminals increased by 15.7% or 503 units (up to 3703 units), with the 3.8-fold growth of regular POS-terminals by 50537 units, while a year earlier the growth of both vPOS-terminals and regular POS-terminals was almost the same - 30.1% and 41 .1% respectively.
And in Q4 2022 alone, the number of vPOS-terminals increased by 3%, with the 2.1-fold growth of regular POS-terminals. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia, according to which such a tangible increase in POS-terminals reduced the share of vPOS-terminals in the total number of the first ones from 14.8% in 2021 to 5.1% in 2022.
As of January 1, 2023, there were 68888 POS-terminals in Armenia, taking into account Virtual POS- terminals (vPOS) 72591 units, of which 786 (including 93 virtual ones) are installed in the head offices and branches of banks. In particular, 19 regular POS-terminals were dismantled in the head offices and branches of banks during the reporting year, but 13 vPOS-terminals were used instead.
Meanwhile, at wholesale and retail outlets, at catering / service facilities and medical care points, regular POS-terminals were more actively installed than virtual ones, and it is in these places that most of the post- terminals are installed: both regular POS-terminals (50,928 units) and vPOS-terminals (2,042 units). Moreover, the number of regular POS-terminals increased most significantly at wholesale and retail outlets - 2 -fold in Q4 and 4-fold in a year, while at catering / service facilities and medical service points and the both quarterly and y-o-y growth of regular POS-terminals turned out to be more modest - 32-43% for the Q4 and 2-fold for the year. Such a significant increase in the number of POS-terminals, especially at wholesale and retail outlets, is explained by the introduction of a legislative restriction on cash payments from July 1, 2022.
After a seven-year break (since 2015), the resumption of the Central Bank's publication of data on ATMs and POS-terminals installed is as follows: 528 ATMs and 42,773 POS-terminals at trade/service points - 46 ATMs and 6052 POS-terminals at the public catering facilities/services (hotels, restaurants, cafes, bistros), - 87 ATMs and 4145 POS-terminals at the medical service points (hospitals, dental clinics, pharmacies). Moreover, the majority of vPOS-terminals - about 53% (or 1950 out of 3703 vPOS-terminals) are used in points of sale and catering / services.
The Central Bank also began to indicate the number of payment terminals - 10542 units, of which 5093 are installed in the capital, and 5449 - in the regions. Moreover, 654 units alone are installed in banks (with an increase of only 38 units over the year). Most of all payment systems- 9888 units, are installed in large shopping centers, on busy streets of the capital and in the regions. And the y-o-y growth in the number of POS-terminals by 2 thousand units, provided almost completely by payment systems, while in banks their number increased by only 38 units.
According to the Central Bank, by January 1, 2023, there were 3.184 million cards (with an acceleration of y-o-y growth from 8.3% to 17.8%), and the volume of plastic transactions (including transactions abroad with cards of Armenian issuing banks) for 12 months of 2022 exceeded 4.4 trillion drams (with an acceleration of y-o-y growth from 26.3% to 34.7%). Plastic transactions kept growing due to the activity of transactions through virtual POS-terminals (vPOS), the share of which in the volume of non-cash transactions reached 54% or 947.7 billion drams (21.5% of the total volume of plastic transactions). This, in turn, increased the share of the volume of non-cash transactions in the total volume of plastic transactions from 31.6% in 12 months of 2021 to 39.8% in 12 months of 2022 or 1.756 trillion drams, while accelerating the y-o-y growth in absolute value from 39.7% to 69.7%. But the dominant in the total volume of plastic transactions is still held by cash transactions, despite the decrease in the share from 68.4% to 60.2%, amounting to 2.7 trillion drams in absolute terms, of which 95.8% were carried out through ATMs. And the slowdown in y-o-y growth in cash transactions from 21% to 18.5% was accompanied by the same slowdown in the growth of ATM transactions from 21.6% to 19.5%.
