YEREVAN, January 31, /ARKA/. The Russian-owned Areximbank-Gazprombank Group said today it has joined Blizko international system of instant money transfers for individuals without account opening.

Blizko offers instant money transfers between the CIS and several other countries. Transfers are made in U.S. dollars, euros and Russian rubles.  The bank said in a press release that it offers also international money transfers via Bystraya Pochta, MIGOM, CONTACT and MONEYGRAM systems.

In 2011, Areximbank-Gazprombank Group handled a total of 272.5 billion drams worth money transfers, including $5 billion drams transfers without account opening and 267.5 billion drams via SWIFT system.

Areximbank-Gazprombank Group (formerly Areximbank) was established in 1998 to handle financial flows between Armenia and Russia. It is a principled member of VISA International and MasterCard International payment systems. In 2007 it joined Armenian ArCa payment system. The bank is owned fully by Russian Gazprombank.

According to ARKA’s data, as of December 31, 2011 the bank’s assets grew to 95.9 billion drams, liabilities to over 80.1 billion drams, the total capital stood at over 15. billion drams, the charter capital was 12.3 billion drams, the outstanding credit portfolio rose to 74.7 billion drams. In 2011 it earned one billion drams in net profit. -0-