Yerevan/Mediamax/. Transitions on goods and services payments in Armenia and abroad make 70% of card transitions of American Express Gold whereas the index makes about 10% in case of other plastic cards issued in Armenia, said the Chief Executive Officer of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank Stepan Gishyan.

Summing up the first year of AmEx cards issued by the Bank, Stepan Gishyan stated that 45% of transitions in Armenia were realized through these cards, Mediamax reports.

He said that the Bank will double the points transferred for the payments through the cards within MR (Membership Rewards) program in December 2011 to boost the payment transitions through AmEx Gold cards in Armenia.

Head of the Card Center at the Bank Lilit Gevorgyan reported that as of now, cardholders of AmEx Gold have accumulated over 8lmn MR points up to now which is quite enough to purchase 100 notebooks from the AmEx set of prizes.

Stepan Gishyan also informed about “Help on the Road” service meant for AmEx Gold cardholders. ‘The service due to be launched in December will allow the cardholders to use the service of car evacuation on the whole Armenia’s territory. The service will be provided free of charge twice a year”, said Stepan Gishyan.

ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank is the only bank in Armenia to issue and service cards of 3 major card systems (Visa, MasterCard и AmEx). 

The Bank has been servicing American Express cards from early 2010 and it has become the exclusive issuer of American Express Gold cards in Armenia since early 2010. On September 30 of 2011, the bank also announced the start of issuing American Express Blue cards.

The Bank is a leader by the volume of issued cards and card turnover having a total of 112 thousand issued cards. According to Stepan Gishyan, 26% of card transitions of ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank are realized through AmEx cards.