YEREVAN, March 22 /ARKA/. The government of Armenia has approved today setting an administrative penalty for provision of unlicensed financial services and unlicensed advertising of credit organizations.

“The proposal sets administrative liability in relation to unlicensed persons for the provision of advertising services to credit institutions by means of media, social networking services and any other electronic information transfer mechanisms,” Justice Minister Artak Zeynalyan explained.

He said the administrative penalty size may vary from 2 million to 4 million drams. Zeynalyan suggested that the size of the administrative penalty for unlicensed activities be set at 50 thousand drams, explaining it by the need to preserve the principle of proportionality.

However, his proposal was opposed by the chairman of the Central Bank Arthur Javadyan, who said the proposed amount is much lower of what unlicensed companies earn for the provision of a single service.
‘I do not consider the penalty to the tune of 50 thousand drams acceptable even as a preventive measure,’ he said. ($1 - AMD 485.91). –0-