New Decision on Cashless Transactions

The Central Bank of Armenia has decided to modify and reduce the fees charged to merchants for cashless transactions. During a press conference, addressing concerns that intermediary fees ranging from 1% to 4% hinder the transition to cashless trade, Central Bank Governor Martin Galstyan noted that they have received numerous signals indicating that this could be a significant issue for businesses.

He stated that the experiences of other countries have also been examined to understand the levels of these fees. Galstyan affirmed that the current fees in Armenia do not significantly differ from international practices and are not excessive; however, considering the Central Bank's position to promote cashless transactions, it has been decided to implement certain restrictions. He informed that the Board of the Central Bank made the relevant decision at the end of last week.

According to the Central Bank president, at present, depending on the type of card, merchants' costs average between 0.9% and 1.8%, which is due to investments made by banks for obtaining POS terminals and their associated licenses. The decision stipulates that starting March 1, the fees for Arca cards will be set at 0.5%, while for international cards, the fee will be 0.9%.

He added that the service fees for Visa and MasterCard are unrelated to the intermediary fees charged by the banking system. According to Central Bank calculations, this decision will result in a loss of approximately 2 billion drams for the banking system. Martin Galstyan emphasized that this decision will resolve the issues faced by merchants, and future statistics will reveal whether the main obstacle to cashless trade was the intermediary fees or if there were additional factors involved.