Yerevan/Mediamax/. Areximbank- Gazprombank Group was the first among the Armenian banks to get a license for internet payment acquiring through VISA international and local cards, the Bank’s Director General Armen Khandkaryan and ViSA Business Development Manager in Armenia, Georgia and Moldova Irina Kamkhadze stated this in Yerevan today.

The launch of the service will allow Armenian and foreign VISA cardholders to pay for goods and services through their payment card in any internet shop of Armenia where VISA cards are available.

Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Armenia Nerses Yeritsyan who was present at the event congratulated the Bank on obtaining the license noting that the global volume of the internet trade in 2011 made USD782bln and it’s expected that the amount will increase 10-fold in 2020 which stresses the importance of the service for Armenia.


Armen Khandkaryan said that there are particularly retail trade points, tourism operators, air ticket companies and other enterprises among corporate customers of Areximbank which have long felt the need for introducing internet acquiring. In this respect, the Bank expects intensive use of the service which will result in considerable growth of internet commerce in Armenia. Armen Khandkaryan didn’t point out the volume of investments aimed at introducing internet acquiring noting that the budget of the new service was “rather affordable” for the Bank.

Irina Kahkhadze said that VISA currently holds negotiations with one more Armenian bank on granting a licence for internet payment acquiring.

According to her, as of the first quarter of 2012, the number of issued VISA cards in Armenia increased by 35 % against the first quarter of 2011 and the turnover of VISA system in Armenia increased by 38% as of the mentioned period. And the number of operations with the cards in the trade-service network increased by 79%.

The lack of licenses for internet payment acquiring of cardholders of VISA international cards in Armenian banks made Armenian companies selling items and services online open commercial accounts in foreign banks. As a result, extra transaction expenses reduce the incomes of the Armenian companies by 3-5%. The issue was one of the key problems of the development of e-commerce in Armenia for a long time.