The number of plastic cards in Armenia has increased by 9.2% in 2017, amounting to 1,715 million compared to the previous year's 9.2% decline. At the same time, the volume of plastic transactions increased by 11.8% in 2017 after 2.1% decline in 2016, to 1.6 trillion drams. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of Armenia.

According to the source, the number of local ArCA cards increased in 2017 by 8.7% to 566.8 thousand, and the number of international Visa and MasterCard cards, respectively, 3.6% and 18.7%, up to 608.6 thousand and 493.8 thousand cards. Other international cards (mainly HSBC cards, as well as AmEx and Diners Club) decreased by 0.3% to 45.5 thousand cards. In 2016 the number of ArCa cards decreased by 5%, Visa - 25.5%, other international cards - 3.5%, and MasterCard - by 20.8%.

According to the regulator, the restoration of the positive dynamics of plastic transactions in 2017 was based on the following factors: particularly, the growth of transactions with Visa cards made 10.6%, transactions with MasterCard - from 14.9% to 32.6%, ArCa cards - from 0.4% to 1.8%, other international cards – from 67% to 30.5%. The leader in the volume of deals is Visa card, 747.7 billion drams, MasterCard - 451.9 billion drams, ArCa - 354.5 billion drams, and transactions with other cards - 22.7 billion drams.

Non-cash transactions in the total volume of plastic transactions over the past six years have increased from 7.3% to 17.1%, reaching 269 billion drams, driven by a significant increase in internet commerce, as well as cashback (money back) functions used by banks. After an accelerated growth in 2016, annual growth in non-cash plastic operations increased from 25% to 32.3%, and slowed down to 23.1% in 2017. The quarterly dynamics of this indicator showed a sharp fluctuation - 16.6% decline in the first quarter, 26.9% growth in the second quarter, 10.1% decline in the third quarter and 25% growth in the fourth quarter.

The share of Visa cards in the Armenian plastic cards market decreased from 37.4% to 35.5% in 2017, ArCa - from 33.2% to 33.1%, MasterCard - from 26.5% to 28.8%, other cards dropped to 2.7%. The majority of transactions are carried out by Visa cards - 47.4%, MasterCard - 28.7% ArCa - 22.5%, the remaining cards - 1.4%.

As of January 1, 2018 there are 7303 POS-terminals in Armenia, 711 of which are in banks, with an annual growth of 4.8% or 332 units. In 2017, this figure was 1493, with annual growth of 4.3% or 61 units, instead of 1.1% in 2016 or 16 units. It is noteworthy that the Central Bank ceased to publish the number of trade/service points in 2015, but by the end of 2014 their number was 6619, of which 3694 were in retail outlets and 275 in hotels.

The material is copyrighted and protected by law