YEREVAN, February 3. /ARKA/. In an exclusive interview with ARKA news agency, HSBC Bank Armenia CEO, Astrid Clifford, said the bank’s cards were used last year to make a total of $1 million worth transactions.

She said also the bank’s ATMs resumed last year servicing Visa, MasterCard and local ArCa cards. According to her, it was very important for the bank to service these types of cards and in August and September last year this service was available again.

She said in 2011 the bank issued more than 20,000 cards, including 17,800 banking cards and 2,400 credit cards. The figure represented a 38% rise from 2010, when the bank issued a total of 14,600 cards, of which 3,600 were credit cards.

JSC HSBC Bank Armenia is a member of HSBC Bank plc. It was registered in Armenia in 1995. Its shareholders are HSBC Europe BV that owns a 70% stake and Wings Establishment (30%). HSBC Bank Armenia joined NASDAQ OMX Armenia stock exchange in 2009.

At the end of 2011 its assets totaled 179 billion drams, total capital exceeded 30 billion drams, and the total credit investments reached 108 billion drams. Its profit before tax amounted to 8.3 billion drams ($1 - 387, 31 drams). -0-