YEREVAN, February 23. /ARKA/. VISA is trying to make sure that all its top innovations reach Armenia as it develops its payments network and continues to add new benefits for cardholders, Diana Kiguradze, Visa Regional Manager for the Caucasus region, told ARKA news agency.

"Visa is a global leader in digital payments, that built one of the most innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure payment networks in the world. Visa brings innovative technologies and international expertise to deliver our purpose: to uplift everyone and everywhere by being the best way to pay and to be paid. Visa’s network covers more than 200 countries and territories. Visa drives a cashless ecosystem and contributes to the sustainable digital transformation of the economies worldwide," she said.

Kiguradze noted that VISA has long ago moved away from the path of a company that simply deals with banking cards.

"VISA is a company that develops digital payments… We are proud to have been a leader over the last two years in terms of new technology adoption. Together with our partner banks, we have launched technologies such as Apple Pay and Google Pay, and we are developing cross-border money transfers," she said. 

The regional manager also informed about the new innovation -Tap to Phone- that allows Android-based cell phones to be used as POS-terminals.

About Visa

Visa values partnerships across the globe and collaborates with approximately 14,500 financial institutions globally. Visa connects over 130 million merchant locations and manages 4.3 billion payment credentials. In 2023, the Visa network facilitated an impressive $15 trillion in total volume.

Visa stands for acceptance, security, convenience, speed, and reliability. One of the growth engines for Visa is value-added services that help clients and partners optimize their performance, businesses to thrive, and customers to get the best payment experience.  

Data from the Central bank

According to the Central Bank of Armenia, some 1,723,418 Visa cards issued by Armenian commercial banks were in circulation in the fourth quarter of 2023, up from 1,658,117 cards in the third quarter of the same year.

Some 61,697,201 transactions worth AMD 932 billion were made with VISA  cards in Armenia during the reporting period, up from 56 million  transactions of AMD 816 billion in the third quarter of the same year. ($1 - AMD 404.36) -0-.