ArmInfo. In Armenia, Acba Bank and Converse Bank are starting to issue cards of the China UnionPay system. Let us remind you that Acba Bank has been servicing China UnionPay cards since October 2019. ArmInfo was informed by Acba Bank and Converse Bank.
Days earlier the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia gave permission for Acba Bank and Converse Bank to participate in the UnionPay International (UPI) foreign settlement and payment system.
According to data available to ArmInfo as of September 30, 2023, Acba Bank has over 360 ATMs (including the combined network with Ardshinbank) and 38,789 POS-terminals, and Converse Bank has 130 ATMs and 3,250 POS-terminals. Both Acba Bank and Converse Bank, at the same time as issuing the local ArCa card, also issue Visa and Mastercard cards from the international systems. Acba Bank is a leader in the total number of active cards (including taking leading positions in the number of ArCa and Visa cards), in the volume of plastic transactions, ATM transactions, Internet transactions, in the number of ATMs and POS-terminals. Converse Bank is included in the TOP-5 in terms of volumes of plastic transactions and Internet transactions, by the number of POS-terminals and by the number of Visa cards.
China Union Pay was founded in 2002. UnionPay International (UPI) is a subsidiary of China UnionPay and is focused on growing and supporting UnionPay's global business outside of China. In partnership with more than 2,500 financial institutions around the world, UPI provides the ability to use cards to pay for goods, services and withdraw cash in 181 countries. UnionPay cards are issued in more than 79 countries. Outside of China, 200 million cards of this system have already been issued. According to the final data for 2020, 45% of transactions in the world were carried out using cards of this system.
