YEREVAN, December 12. / ARKA /. Armenian Card (ArCA) payment system issued 42,242 new plastic cards in November 2012, by 18% more from the same month a year earlier, the company said in a press release.

More specifically, it issued 14,665  ArCa cards, by 5.8% less from a year before, 13,016 Visa cards- by 42% more from a year before and 14,561  MasterCards, a growth of 31.6%.

The total number of active cards, which could be used to make transactions in November exceeded 985,500 a 33.1% increase compared to November 2011.

Some 649,406 cards were used to make transactions in the reporting period, up from 502,487 in the same period last year, of which 339,794 were ArCa cards (an increase of 20.5%), 168,353 were Visa cards (an increase of 35.4%) and 141,259 were MasterCards (an increase of 47%).

The company also said that the proportion of active plastic cards, which were used to make transactions, was 66%.

The 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 – 410,97 drams).  -0-