YEREVAN, September 18. / ARKA /. Ameriabank said today it started issuing chip cards with a new original design. The new cards with chip modules are payment cards with a built-in microprocessor. The functionality of such a card is much higher than that of cards with magnetic stripe cards. They can store more data and have a high level of security.

According to a bank’s press release, it has developed a simplified procedure for replacing the cards with magnetic stripes with new cards. "If magnetic cards are issued for a period of two years, chip cards are issued for 4 years," it said.

The number of cards issued by Ameriabank increased by 49% in late August compared to the same period last yea. The total amount of transactions made by Ameriabank cards in the first eight months of this year increased by 37 percent and their number by 45 percent.

Currently Ameriabank runs 88 ATMs serving ArCa, Master Card, VISA cards. Some 66 are located in Yerevan, 4 - in Nagorno-Karabakh and 18 in the provinces. The number of its POS terminals in trade and service areas has grown to 556. -0-