The amount of cashless payments is increasing in Armenia, Samson Ghazaryan, Head of the Settlement System Development Department, told NEWS.am. He pointed out a two-fold increase in the number of cards since 2007.

“A total of 327,000 cards were registered in 2007, whereas they numbered 681,000 at the end of the 3rd quarter, 2010. This number is expected to reach 700,000 by the year end,” Ghazaryan said. The number of ATMs and POS has increased as the card system developed. In 2007, a total of 338 ATMs were registered in Armenia, whereas they number 778 now. A total of 4,000 POS are now operating in the country against 2,000 in 2007.

“The number of POS is evidence of demand for cashless payments,” Ghazaryan said. In 2007, cashless payments amounted to 17 billion AMD, whereas they exceed 27 billion AMD this year. Moreover, banks offer bonuses in case of cashless payments.

Last year, 5.5 billion AMD Internet transactions were effected in Armenia, whereas 6.3 billion AMD transactions were effected this January-March.