Wednesday, September 19 2018 18:02

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the number of plastic cards increased by 16% per annum to July 1, 2018, to 1.851 million units, against the decline of 9% a year earlier.  Adequately, the annual growth in the total volume of plastic  transactions sharply accelerated from 7.2% in the first half of 2017  to 23% in the first half of 2018, exceeding 863.5 billion drams. This  is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.

According to the source, the number of local ArCa cards grew by 12.3%  year-on-year to 599.4 thousand units, and international Visa and  MasterCard - by 19% and 17.3%, respectively - up to 685.2 thousand  units. and 522.8 thousand units, with the decline of other  international cards (mainly HSBC cards, as well as AmEx and Diners  Club) by 3.2% to 43.6 thousand units. A year earlier, in the II  quarter of 2017 the number of ArCa decreased by 0.1% per annum, Visa  - by 26.6%, other international cards - by 1.1%, with MasterCard  growing by 13.6%.

According to the regulator, a sharp jump in the total volume of  plastic transactions on the upward trajectory was due to the release  of the annual dynamics of transactions on ArCa cards from a 3.4%  decline to 11.6% growth and international cards - from a 56.2%  decline by 42.2% growth, in parallel with which there was an  acceleration in the growth of transactions on Visa cards - from 5.5%  to 23% and a slowdown in the growth of MasterCard - from 32.5% to  30.8%. Leadership on the volume of transactions keeps Visa cards -  407.4 billion drams for the first half of this year, second place  MasterCard - more than 262 billion drams, on the third ArCa - 178.9  billion drams, and the rest 15.3 bln drams are transactions on other  international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC). 

In the total volume of plastic transactions, the share of non-cash  transactions has increased over the past five years from 10.6% to  19.9% (compared to the first half of 2013), exceeding 172.1 bln AMD  as of the end of the first half of 2018, due to a significant  increase in Internet commerce and undertaken by banks such effective  measures to encourage non-cash transactions like CashBack (refunds  from purchases). The annual growth in the volume of non-cash plastic  transactions, after accelerating the pace in the first half of 2017  from 11.7% to 47.2%, continued to rise in the first half of 2018,  slowing down to 36.4%. Quarterly dynamics of this indicator showed an  exit from the 2.3% decline in the I quarter on 22% growth in the II  quarter, against a similar but more drastic trend change in the same  period of a year ago - from a 16.6% decline on 27% growth.  In the  Armenian plastic market, the share of Visa in the total number of  cards in the annual section increased from 36% to 37%, MasterCard  from 27.8% to 28.2%, while the share of ArCa decreased from 33.4% to  32.4% %, and the remaining 2.4% (compared to 2.8% a year earlier) are  other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC). In the total volume of  plastic transactions, the dominant share is also held by Visa - 47.2%  (as well as a year earlier), in second place MC - 30.3% (against  28.5% in the first half of 2017), on the third ArCa - 20, 7% (against  22.8% in the first half of 2017), and the remaining 1.8% (versus 1.5%  in the first half of 2017) is the share of transactions on other  international cards.

As of July 1, 2018, there were 8,237 POS-terminals in Armenia, of  which 846 are located in head offices and branches of banks. In the  annual section, the total number of POS-terminals increased by 14.7%  or 1053 units, against growth of 8.4% or 554 units. a year earlier.  Moreover, only for the first half of 2018 the number of POS-terminals  increased by 12.8% or 934 units. ATMs on the above date were 1468  pcs. with annual growth of 9% or 121 pcs, against a decline of 10.9%  or 164 pcs. a year earlier. It is noteworthy that for the first half  of the year 2018 the number of POS terminals in banks and their  branches grew by 19% or 135, and in the annual section by 7.1% or 56  pcs. (against growth of 2.3% or 18 pcs a year earlier). It is  pertinent to note that the exit of the four banks from the market  until 2017 was accompanied by the optimization of their post-terminal  network by the banks with which they merged, as existing players  already had their own extensive network of poses. The number of trade  / service points where ATMs or POS terminals are installed has ceased  to be published by the Central Bank since 2015, but at the end of  2014 there were 6619 of which 3694 in retail outlets and 275 in  hotels.

It should be noted that the Central Bank of Armenia acts as the  majority shareholder of ArCa, then the major shareholders of the  organization are ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank, Armeconombank and  Ardshinbank, and the remaining 14 banks own 2% of shares. Through its  own processing, HSBC Bank Armenia and VTB Bank (Armenia) operate on  the card market. Only Armswissbank did not work on the plastic  market, but becoming a member of the Armenian Card in the first  quarter of 2017 and successfully completing negotiations with  MasterCard for membership, he started issuing cards from March  2018.

Recall that since 2017, 17 banks are functioning in Armenia, after  ProCredit Bank, BTA Bank, Areximbank-GPB Group and Armenian  Development Bank joined the banking market in 2015-2016, merging with  INECOBANK, Armeconombank, Ardshinbank and ARARATBANK, respectively .