ArmInfo. In the plastic card market of Armenia, cashless transactions established themselves as the dominant force in 2024, accounting for 52.3% of the total volume (compared to 51% in 2023 and 40% in 2022), totaling 3.6 trillion drams ($9.1 billion) in absolute terms. This is evidenced by data from the Central Bank of the Republic of Armenia.
This result was achieved despite a significant decrease in the annual growth rate of non-cash card payments from 200% to 13%, This slowdown can be attributed to the market returning to a more natural growth range, after a jump caused by the launch of legislative restrictions on cash transactions starting on July 1, 2022.
It is worth noting that in non-cash transactions, the share of transactions carried out through virtual vPOS increased in 2024 from 54.5% to 59%, amounting to 2.1 trillion drams ($5.4 billion) with a slowdown in the growth rate of the volume from 85% to 17%. In the total volume of plastic transactions, the share of transactions through vPOS also increased - from 28% in 2023 to 31% in 2024. The slowdown in the growth of non-cash transactions affected the growth rate of the total volume of plastic transactions, slowing them down from 43.2% to 9.2%, resulting in 6.9 trillion drams or $17.4 billion (including transactions abroad with cards of Armenian issuing banks) by the end of 2024. Moreover, the volume of transactions abroad with cards of Armenian issuing banks continued to lose growth - this time from 54.3% to 13.7%, amounting to 801.2 billion drams ($2 billion) by the end of 2024, thereby taking a share of 11.6% in total plastic transactions (versus 11.1% in 2023).
International cards showed the highest growth rates of plastic transactions. Visa cards hold the lead in transaction volume - 4.2 trillion drams for 2024, with a significant slowdown in annual growth from 76% to 17%. Masteráard cards took second place - 1.7 trillion drams, with a sharp slowdown in annual growth from 54.5% to 5%. Local ArCa cards are in fourth place - 777.4 billion drams, with a reversal in annual dynamics from 23.7% growth to a 9% decline. And other foreign cards (HSBC cards, AmEx, Diners Club, MIR, UPI) are in fifth place - 239.7 billion drams, with a sharp slowdown in growth rates from 86.1% to 27%.
The decrease was mainly caused by a significant reduction in transactions on MIR cards (by 2.3 times) and, to a lesser extent, by the exit of HSBC Bank Armenia (through a merger with Ardshinbank), which issued HSBC cards, from the Armenian market on November 29. In particular, such a significant drop in transactions on MIR cards was due to the inclusion of NSPK MIR in the sanctions list in February 2024 and the subsequent suspension of the connection of the ArCa and MIR national card systems in March. In this regard, Armenian banks stopped servicing MIR cards in April 2024, and only VTB Bank (Armenia), which became the issuer of these cards in July 2022 and managed to issue 197.3 thousand units by October 2024, continued to service them in its networks of ATMs and POS.
In terms of market share in the total volume of plastic transactions, Visa cards are leading - 60.5% (compared to 57% in 2023), Masteráard is in second place - 24.7% (compared to 26.5% in 2023), ArCa is in third place - 11.3% (compare to 13.5% in 2023), and the remaining 3.5% (compared to 3% in 2023) are transactions using other foreign cards. In 2023, the share of transactions using MIR cards was 74%, then by 2024 their share decreased to 26%, making op only 1% of the total volume of plastic transactions (compared to 2.2% in 2023). Visa cards also hold the lead in the total number of bank cards - 51.3%, followed by Mastercard - 22.6% and ArCa - 18.8%, and the remaining 7.3% are other foreign cards (HSBC cards, AmEx, Diners Club, MIR, UPI). In terms of annual growth in the number of cards, the highest rate was shown in the reporting year by international Visa cards - 29% and other foreign cards - 26%. The growth of Mastercard cards was 12%, while the dynamics of local ArCa cards worsened from double-digit growth to a 6.5% decline. By 2025 there were over 4.328 million cards, with an annual growth of 16.3% (compared to 17% growth in 2023).
According to the latest issue #30 of the analytical review "Armenian Banks in the Card Business", prepared by ArmInfo Investment Company, transaction activity (activity coefficient by transaction volume) slowed down in annual growth from 17.4% to 2.4%, amounting to 0.166. This means that the average monthly transaction volume per card is 166 thousand drams or $451. According to ArmInfo financial analysts, the Armenian card market, which has experienced a significant growth in the past 2 years, partly due to the law on non-cash payments adopted in 2022, is now entering a new period of its qualitative growth amidst intense competition. The market is seeing an increase in non-cash payments and online transactions, which in 2023, for the first time, exceeded cash transactions in both quantity and volume, a trend that has continued in 2024.
The market is experiencing both quantitative growth and qualitative, innovative development. The number of new generation ATMs, specifically contactless ones, is growing. The post-terminal network is expanding due to a significant increase in virtual and mobile post-terminals (vPOS and mPOS). Technological advancements in the card segment, particularly in e-commerce and contactless cards, are ongoing. Banks are actively offering Apple Pay and Google Pay applications for Visa and MasterCard certified by the Armenian Card National Payment System for contactless payments. The launch of the ArCaPay system in November 2024 made the same technological capabilities available for local ArCa cards.
Let us remind you that all 17 banks operating in the country are active in the plastic market of Armenia. Among them is a relatively new participant - Fast Bank, which issues both local ArCa cards and international Visa and Mastercard.
