YEREVAN, January 30. / ARKA /. Armenian banks, members of ArCA payment system, will suspend issuance of plastic cards from January 29 to February 14 in connection with upgrading the software of its processing company, the Union of Banks of Armenia said today in a press release.

The press release said also that the system may be halted on February 8 - 9, however, the effective cards will be served before and after that.

Earlier ArCa said it started the final, migration stage of transition to a completely new software, following extensive 12-month work. The current software of ArCa’s processing center was placed about 13 years ago and no longer meets modern requirements for effective development of the banking and card business.

The new software is fully consistent with the most stringent international safety standards, in particular, with the Payment Application Data Security Standards indicating that the program is internationally recognized as safe.

As of January 1, 2013 the ArCa system operated 6,068 POS-terminals (a growth of 28%) from 2011, of which 560 are located in cashing centers (11.6% growth), and 5,508 - in stores (30% growth). It also operated 960 ATMs throughout Armenia of which 123 were installed last year.

Overall, at the beginning of the year the system serviced over 1 million active banking cards, a 32% increase over 2011.

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 with ArCa, ArCa Debit, ArCa Classic, ArCa Gold, ArCa Business, ArCa Affinity, ArCa Co-branded, ArCa Platinum, as ArCa pensioner cards.

The company is a full member of MasterCard Europe international payment system. It also processes VISA and American Express (Third Party Processor) cards. -0-