YEREVAN, August 16. /ARKA/. The number of Visa and MasterCard banking cards issued by Armenia-based commercial banks in April and May 2022 increased by 16.2% from the same months of 2021 to over 2 million.
In the second quarter of 2021, the number of such cards increased by 5.11% as opposed to the first quarter of 2021, according to the findings of a study conducted by Russian RBC.
According to experts, the number of such cards issued by banks in Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan and Belarus, in April-June this year was the highest since at least 2018. Double-digit growth rates were recorded in Armenia and Tajikistan in May 2022.
More and more such cards are being issued after Visa and MasterCard left Russia and their cards issued by Russian banks no longer accepted abroad.
This has given rise to so-called ‘card tourism’ when Russians travel to some of former Soviet republics to get Visa and MasterCard cards. Russian Mir and Chinese UnionPay cards are expensive and not accepted everywhere.
Meanwhile, special adviser on sanctions issues from Pen & Paper Kira Vinokurova says Armenia and Georgia are becoming less popular for Russians to get these cards because of artificial obstacles created by the banks in these countries. –0—
