Friday, June 20 2014

ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank has summed up the results of its spring card campaign. Five most active cardholders have won seven-day trips for two to different cities in Europe. The winners were selected by the bank's customers on June 16.

The awards were granted on Friday by the bank's CEO Hakob Andreasyan, who wished the winners bon voyage. 
Narek Safaryan has won a trip to London, Armen Harutyunyan to Barcelona, Manuk Petrosyan, vahram Ter-Matevosyan and Levon Davtyan to Athens, Naples and Nice, respectively.

The campaign involved the bank's customers holding Visa, MasterCard, ArCa or Armenian Express cards, who carried out at least 20 transactions worth no less than 100,000 AMD in Mar-May 2014.

"Once again we have seen that to be ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank means not only benefit and security but also pleasure as we regularly appear with pleasant surprises and gifts," Andreasyan said, adding that the bank will continue holding such campaigns.

He said that his bank offers its customers different card products.  "We cooperate with all global payment systems, including American Express, whose exclusive partner we are. Some people think that AmEx cards are very expensive but they are. They are meant for different social groups and have all chances to become popular in Armenia. By the way, very soon we will appear with a surprise for our AmEx holders," Andreasyan said.
He told ArmInfo's correspondent that AmEx cards are issued in Armenia by ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank only but they are also serviced by the partner banks via the POS-terminal network. As regards the banks' preferences in the card market, he pointed out that the recent prevalence of the issue of international cards over the issue of local cards in Armenia can be explained by the fact that more and more young people are becoming customers of the banks. Furthermore, international cards are more convenient for making online payments and using in trips. In general, Andreasyan forecasts ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank's cards to grow to 180 thsd in 2014 and the amount of plastic transactions to rise by almost 20% due to the activeness of the current customers and involvement of new ones. 

According to the Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card Business" prepared by the Agency of Rating Marketing Information (ArmInfo), ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank is on the list of the TOP-5 banks in terms of total number of active cards - about 160 thsd cards, including over 90 thsd local ArCa cards, about 47 thsd international Visa cards and over 20 thsd MasterCards. Over 57% of the total number of active cards fall on salary projects. The Bank's active cards rose year over year by 15%, which was almost equally ensured by ArCa and Visa cards.  The Bank is among the TOP-3 by the number of its local cards, among the TOP-5 by the number of its international cards, and holds the second position by its salary cards. In terms of plastic transactions the Bank holds the second position with about 140 bln AMD in 2013 (15% year over year growth), with 115 bln AMD of this amount being ATM transactions. The Bank is in the lead in the number of ATMs and POS terminals (187 ATMs and 1210 own POS-terminals). ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank issues and services local ArCa cards and international Visa and MasterCards. The Bank has been an exclusive partner of AmEx for almost 4 years.