YEREVAN, OCTOBER 24, NOYAN TAPAN. An agreement on opening a call center was signed between Armeconombank and ArmenTel company of VimpelCom group of telecommunication companies on October 23. The Call Center is a commercial center of providing phone services to the bank's customers. It is the first one in Armenia and other CIS countries serviced by VimpelCom. The agreement was signed by the chairman of Armeconombank OJSC Board David Sukiasian and the director general of ArmenTel CJSC Neycho Velichkov. During a press conference after the agreement's signing, D. Sukiasian said that it is for the first time in Armenia that a bank entrusts some functions of its information system to another commercial structure specialized in the ICT sector. According to him, the Call Center of 24-hour and free services will provide an opportunity to establish closer relations between the bank and its customers. By dialling 6868 Armeconombank's customers can receive information about the interest rates of the bank's credits and deposits, and the tariffs of other banking services. It is also envisaged providing information on accounts and delivering money transfer and foreign currency exchange services starting from the first quarter of 2009. D. Sukiasian said that the center was established based on studies of the Russian market of call centers that has a 15-year history. This allows the bank to classify the surveys by subjects and than to guide its strategy based on it. N. Velichkov in his turn announced that ArmenTel plans to open call centers of international companies starting from 2009. In his words, previously they used to open such centers in India and Eastern Europe, whereas now the market of these services is being moved from Europe to the East. In the opinion of ArmenTel's director, Armenia is an excellent place for "call center" services because of Armenian young people's knowledge of foreign languages and the favorable geographical location of Armenia.

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