YEREVAN, June 12. /ARKA/. Armenian Card payment system said it had issued 29,925 plastic cards in May of this year, that is 56.9% higher from the same month a year earlier.
The system issued 10,755 ArCa plastic cards in May of 2012 (8.4% year-on-year growth), 8,071 Visa cards (51.1% growth) and 11,099 Master Cards (191.3% growth), according to the source.
The total number of active cards reached over 858,800 in May 2012 (35.3% year-on-year increase).
Plastic cards by which transactions have been effected totaled 582,461 in May 2012 against  404,994 in the same month a year earlier. Of them, 314,790 are ArCa cards (34.3% year-on-year growth), 139, 957 Visa cards (29.3% increase) and 127, 714 Master Cards (105.2% increase).

The company said that plastic cards by which transactions have been effected made up 68% of all active cards.
Armenian Card CJSC was established on March 16, 2000 as a united national payment system. Today 19 of Armenia’s 21 commercial banks participate in ArCa payment system. The company is a full member of MasterCard Europe international payment system. It also processes VISA and American Express (Third Party Processor) cards. ($1 – 412.52 drams). —0-