YEREVAN, April 18, /ARKA/. The Armenian Card (ArcA) payment system said today it had issued a total of 70,748 plastic cards in the first quarter of 2011, by 16.8% more from a year before. According to an ArCa press release, the system issued 25,825 ArCa cards, by 20% more than in the first quarter of 2010, 25,375 Visa cards, by 21.8% more from Q1, 2010 and 19,548 MasterCard cards, by 7.4% more form a year earlier.
The number of active cards (rated as ‘normal’ in Prime system) that could be used to execute transactions rose to more than 590,00, by 26.1% more if compared to 2010 first quarter. The number of cards used to execute transactions rose to 387,353 from 317,290 in the first quarter of 2010. Of them 228, 563 were
ArCa cards ( 11,8% growth), 101,270 were Visa cards (41.6%) growth, 57,520 were MasterCrad cards (38.9% growth).
The volume of transactions executed via ArCa payment system in March 2011 rose to more than 40.5 billion Drams. The figure represented a 16% rise from 2011 February. According to the press release, a total of 870,935 transactions were made by plastic cards in March, by 17.6% more than in February. A total of 741,948 cash transactions were executed worth 36.6 billion Drams, by 14.5% more than in February. The number of cashless transactions rose by 32.3% form February to 128,987 worth 3.9 billion Drams. The average amount of a transaction was 46, 500 Drams.
Armenian Card company was established in 2000 as a single national system of payments by plastic cards. Today 19 of 21 commercial banks operating in Armenia are ArCa members with a different degree of participation. ArCa is a full member of international payment system MasterCard Europe, and also implements processing of VISA and American Express cards. ($1 – 376.48 Drams). -0-
