Yerevan/Mediamax/. 2.889.923 operations with plastic cards at the total sum of 140bln AMD were realized on the territory of Armenia in the third quarter, 2010.

Mediamax was informed in the press service of the Central Bank of Armenia that the volume of non-cash payments by cards made 10.5bln AMD.

The volume of non-cash payments by cards made 7.5% from the total volume of card operations. All in all, the volume of card operations increased by 35% or for 2.7bln AMD, as compared to the third quarter, 2009.

The number of cards in circulation at the end of the third quarter, 2010, made 681 432, which exceeds the index of the previous quarter by 6.8% (43 430 cards).

As of the end of the third quarter, 2010, the number of active ArCa (Armenian Card) cards increased by 1.2% (3617 cards) as compared to the end of the previous quarter, and made 299 352.

The number of international systems’ cards increased by 11.6% (39 813 cards) in the accounting period.

In this volume, the number of VISA cards increased by 12% (26 721 cards) and made 249 508, and the number of Master Card increased by 13% (11 723 cards) and made 96 660.

The total volume of card transactions increased by 30% in the third quarter, 2010, as compared to the same period of last year, and the number of deals – by 29%.

In the accounting period, 1 289 229 operations at the total sum of 52bln AMD were realized by means of ArCa cards. The volume of operations increased for 8bln AMD (or by 18%) as compared to the third quarter, 2009.

The volume of operations, realized by VISA cards in the third quarter, made 55bln AMD (936 445 operations), and by MasterCard cards – 21bln AMD (429 103 operations). As compared to the third quarter, 2009, these indices increased by 46% and 35% respectively.

235 146 operations at the total sum of 12bln AMD were realized by other international cards in the third quarter, 2010, and this index exceeds by 1.7bln AMD the analogous index of 2009.

At the end of the third quarter, 2010, 20 banks dealt with provision or maintenance of plastic cards in Armenia, 19 of which are members of the single ArCa payment system.