YEREVAN, February 16. /ARKA/. The number of banking cards issued by Armenia-based banks grew last year by 8.3% from 2020, Deputy Executive Director of the Union of Banks of Armenia (UBA) Arman Sargsyan said at a press conference on Wednesday.

According to the UBA, the number of payment cards in 2021 stood at 2,702,657, which were 206,062 more than in 2020. Some 765,917 were ArCa cards, another 1,192,511 were Visa cards, some 699,289 were MasterCard cards, and 44,940 were international cards.

Compared to 2020, some 3,839 more ArCa cards (8.3%) were issued in 2021, some 136,839 more Visa cards (13%), 65,156 more MasterCard cards (10.3%) and 228 more other international cards (0.5%).

According to UBA, these cards were used in 2021 to make 164,349,613 transactions, an increase of 84.1%, or 75,054,525 transactions compared to 2020.

The volume of transactions completed last year grew by more than 1.5 trillion drams to about 4.3 trillion drams, a 56% rise over the previous year.

Sargsyan said also there was a 50% increase in online transactions, a 10.3% increase in ATM transactions, and an 80.9% increase in transactions via POS terminals.

Sargsyan also said that over the past year the number of ATMs in Armenia has increased by 2.4% to 1,573, while the number of POS-terminals has grown by 41.1% to 18,351.

Out of 17 banks operating in Armenia, 16 issue ArCa cards, 15 – MasterCard cards, 13 – Visa cards, one bank issues Amex, Diners Club and JCB cards and two banks issue other cards. -0-