Yerevan, December 4 /Mediamax/. Some of the commercial banks of Armenia plan to take up issuing MasterCard and Visa chip cards in 2007.

ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank will issue MasterCard and Visa chip cards starting from March 2007, and now it issues Magnetic stripes cards.

“Armbusinessbank” and the “Armenian Development Bank” intend to take up issuing MasterCard chip cards in February 2007.

The “Cascade Bank” has successfully tested ArCa chip cards and will soon start issuing them, and by the end of 2007 it plans to issue MasterCard chip cards.

“VTB-Armenia Bank” and “Unibank” will start issuing Visa cards in 2007.

The “Artsakhbank” successfully tested MasterCard and Maestro chip cards, and it plans to issue the cards for masses in 2007.

The “Armimpexbank” does not yet plan to issue chip cards, but it realizes service of chip cards.

“Ardshininvestbank”, “Areximbank”, “Anelik Bank”, “Prometey Bank”, “BTA-Invest Bank”, “Inecobank”, “ITB-International Bank” and “Converse Bank” plan to start issuing chip cards in 2007-2008.

“Ararat-Bank”, “Armswissbank”, “Mellat bank” and “HSBC Bank Armenia” do not plan issuing chip cards yet.

A chip card is a plastic card with a built-in chip (microprocessor) in it, which functions in the card as a mini-computer. The modern chip cards have the highest level of protection.