Interview of the Director of the Plastic Cards Department of “Unibank” Mesrop Hakopian to Banks.am portal

- Which is the role of the plastic cards’ trend in the activities of “Unibank”?

- “Unibank” is one of the largest retail banks in Armenia, and during the maintenance of a large number of customers, maximal automation and technologies become especially important. From this point of view, the card tools are especially efficient, and we plan to develop the given trend.

- By the end of 2006, 20 of 21 commercial banks, functioning in the country, were involved in provision and maintenance of plastic cards in Armenia. Does the market of plastic cards of Armenia enter the phase of strong competition?

- Despite the fact that on the cards market of Armenia there is really a quite strong competition, the banks try to preserve gentlemanly relations and the competition is held mainly for the new customers, especially taking into account the fact that the data of the beginning of the year evidence that less than 10% of the population of Armenia use plastic cards.

- Plastic cards of which payment systems are more in demand in Armenia and which operations with the use of plastic cards are more popular?

- The obvious leader among the payment systems are the local ArCa cards, of which 100 000 are issued already, then comes the Visa, and the third place is occupied by MasterCard. The majority of transactions represent cashing by cash machines, although the share of cashless and internet transaction grows each month.

- Recently the Visa and MasterCard international payment systems sent a proposal to the National Bank of Azerbaijan on implementation of reduced local tariffs. Is the same question topical for Armenia?

- I believe that the establishment of NSS in Armenia is not urgent, as the majority of Armenian banks from the very beginning works by that scheme through the processing center of ArCa.

- Some of the Armenian commercial banks, including “Unibank”, plan to start issuing chip cards. Are the chip cards implemented only for a higher level of security, or do they provide wider opportunities?

- We plan the emission of EMV-cards in 2008, and first of all, this is conditioned by the wish to provide the card-owners with new services and opportunities. The issues of security are secondary, as the level of fraudulent transactions in Armenia is very low.

- There are centers on provision of processing services for MasterCard and Visa plastic cards established on the basis of a single payment system. Does the necessity of establishing own processing centers in banks become irrelevant in this connection?

- This is not an easy question. A processing center is a very complex and capital-intensive affair. I think that even in case of presence of own processing centers in some banks, ArCa will remain a backbone body on the cards market of Armenia.

- Approximately a month has passed after “Unibank” presented the first cash-in NCR in Armenia. How did the novelty prove from the technical point of view and is the cash-machine popular among the population?

- It is hard to expect great changes at this stage, especially taking into account the fact that there is only one such cash machine in Armenia yet. At the same time, the interest for it continually grows, and I think that by mid-summer, when the number of Cash-ins will increase, one will be able to talk about more serious volumes.