YEREVAN, FEBRUARY 21, NOYAN TAPAN. In late 2007, 20 Armenian commercial banks were engaged in provision of payment cards to customers and their servicing in Armenia. All these banks are members of the united payment system with ArCa cards. According to the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia (CBA), 4,428,550 operations of a total of 213 bln 634 mln drams (over 624.5 mln USD) were carried out with payment cards in Armenia in 2007, including cashless payments with cards of about 17 bln 345 mln drams. In the indicated amount of cashless operations, the amount of online operations made 842 mln drams (online trade made 457 mln drams, card-to-card transfers - 385 mln drams). The total amount of operations carried out with the use of cards grew 1.55fold (by 75 bln 388 mln drams) as compared with 2006, while their number increased 1.46fold (1,398,981). Cashless payments with cards accounted for about 8% of card operations last year. The amount of cashless operations the use of cards increased by 50%. In late 2007, the total number of cards in circulation made 327,852, growing 1.57fold (by 118,739) as compared with late 2006. The number of "ArCa" cards grew 1.54fold (by 50,199 cards) in late 2007 on late 2006 and made 142,482. The number of international card systems' cards grew 1.59fold (by 68,540), including the growth in the number of VISA cards (1.54fold or by 48,547 cards to 139,280 cards) and of MasterCards (2fold growth or by 11,848 to 23,665 cards). Other international cards accounted for the rest. 2,081,054 operations of 74 bln 889 mln drams were carried out with ArCa cards being in circulation. The amount of operations with ArCa cards increased about 1.65fold (by 29 bln 418 mln drams), while their number grew 1.48fold (by 672.175) as compared with 2006. The amount of operations with VISA cards made 90 bln 234 mln drams (1,436,478 operations). 319,346 operations of the total amount of 19 bln 904 mln drams were made with MasterCards. The amount of operations with VISA cards grew 1.49fold (by 29 bln 723 mln drams) as compared with the previous year, while the amount of operations with MasterCards grew 1.57fold (by 7 bln 239 mln drams). 591,675 operations of the total amount of 28 bln 607 mln drams were carried out with the use of other international cards, which represents a growth of 9 bln 8 mln drams as compared with 2006. The average daily amount of operations with the use of cards made 593 mln drams, while the average daily number of such operations - 12,302 in 2007. VISA cards made up 42%, ArCa cards - 35% of the indicated amount. The average daily number of operations grew 1.5fold (by 3,886 operations) as compared with 2006. The average monthly amount of operations with ArCa cards increased by about 3 thousand drams in 2007 on 2006 and made 50 thousand drams (their number grew 1.4fold).

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