Thursday, October 19 2017 17:24

ArmInfo. Ameriabank offers "ArCa Mir" co-branded payment cards on flexible and competitive terms.

As the press service of the Bank explained to ArmInfo, the annual  service fee is 2500 AMD, cashing from the card at the issuing bank of  the issuing bank is free of charge, replenishment of the card account  at Ameriabank or at its ATMs is free of charge, in case of  transactions amounting to more than 10,000 AMD, an SMS is sent. For  more details, please see the link  http://ameriabank.am/userfiles/file/ArcaMir/arm.html.

According to the source, one can also order the ArCa Mir card online  directly from Ameriabank's website at http://ameriabank.am/card/.

The source notes that Ameriabank is available to customers in 24/7  mode, and if there are problems with the "ArCa Mir" card, the  cardholder can call the round-the-clock reference number 561111 and  receive the necessary assistance.

On July 7, 2017 the Central Bank of Armenia included the Russian  national payment card system MIR in the register of active payment  and settlement systems, and simultaneously gave permission to the  Armenian Card payment and settlement organization to participate in  the MIR system. The project of inter-system interaction assumes  mutual acceptance of cards of national payment systems in the  infrastructures of two countries: ArCa cards in Russia, maps "MIR" in  Armenia. The project also provides for the production of ArCa-MIR  co-branded cards. 16 banks operating on the ArCa infrastructure are  technically able to issue such cards, and Ardshinbank (since  September), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank (since October) and Ameriabank  (in the second decade of October) have already launched the issue of  ArCa-MIR. The MIR- ArCa project is the first in the EAEU area, which  demonstrates the high level of Armenia-Russia cooperation aimed at  high-quality service to citizens of the two countries, increasing the  volume of non- cash payments, and expanding the geography of plastic  operations on the cards of national payment systems. The Eurasian  Economic Union includes Russia, Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan,  Kyrgyzstan.

The need to create a national payment system (NSPC) on the cards  arose in the summer of 2014, when Visa and MasterCard, due to  US sanctions against Russia, stopped servicing the cards of a number  of Russian banks. On June 3, 2016, an agreement of intent was signed  between Armenian Card CJSC (operator of Armenia's payment system  ArCa) and JSC NSPK (operator of the Russian payment system Mir),  providing for mutual servicing of ArCa and Mir payment systems in  payment infrastructures their participants.

According to the analytical review "Armenian Banks in the Card  Business", prepared by NA ArmInfo, Ameriabank as of April 1, 2017 has  about 76 thousand pieces of active cards, of which more than 55,000  are Visa, about 14,000 are MasterCard and almost 7,000 are local  ArCa. On an annual basis, the bank increased the number of cards by  10.4%, mainly due to the increase in international Visa and  MasterCard.  According to the total volume of plastic transactions  Ameriabank is included in TOP-5, and by the number of its own  POS-terminals - in TOP-3 - 1355 pcs. (with an annual growth of 42.5%  or 404 units). The bank has 108 ATMs, 84 of which are installed in  Yerevan, and the remaining 24 - in the regions. Ameriabank has 13  branches, 8 of which are located in Yerevan. ZAO Ameriabank is a  universal bank that provides investment, corporate and retail banking  services in the form of a comprehensive package of banking solutions.  The bank's shareholders are Ameri Group - 65.8%, EBRD - 20.7%, ESPS  Holding Limited - 13.5%.