On March 30, Ameriabank and SAS Group announced the launch of a co-branding card with a loan and accumulative components. The press office of the company has told ArmInfo that the cardholders can use this card not only at the SAS supermarkets but also at the NEXT, DEBENHAMS, ALDO and BALDI stores, and accumulate bonuses when shopping.
The source says that the cardholders can receive a credit line from Ameriabank and get an opportunity to pay no interest within 51 days. In addition, they will be notified of the discounts at the specified stores a day earlier. The credit line for the SAS ClubCard holders is opened via a facilitated mechanism.
Those wishing to receive an Ameriabank-SAS joint card can submit an application to the SAS supermarkets, NEXT, DEBENHAMS, ALDO and BALDI stores, the head office of Ameriabank or any branch of the Bank, as well as fill in online applications on www.ameriabank.am and www.sas.am.
According to ArmInfo's Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card Business", Ameriabank is among the top ten banks in terms of the number of active cards - over 56 thsd cards as of 1 Oct 2014, with 70% of them being Visa cards. Along with the local ArCa cards, the Bank issues and services international Visa and MasterCards. The share of payroll cards is about 73%. The year-over-year growth of the total number of Ameriabank's active cards is almost 30% mostly due to the local ArCa cards (up 62%) and international Visa cards (up 27%). In terms of plastic transactions, the Bank is among the top five with 71 bln AMD for Jan-Sept 2014 (25% year-over-year increase), with 62% of them being ATM operations. Ameriabank has nearly 700 POS terminals of its own (3rd rank) and 99 ATMs (5th rank). In 2011-2014, the bank's total number of active cards grew more than twofold, particularly, ArCa - by 89%, Visa - almost 3-fold, MasterCard - more than 2-fold, plastic transactions - almost 2-fold, ATM transactions - by 87%. In the meantime, the number of POS terminals rose by 182, and the number of ATMs - by 32. Ameriabank CJSC is a universal bank offering corporate, investment and retail banking services in a comprehensive package of banking solutions. The sole shareholder of the Bank is Ameria Group CY Ltd.
To note, SAS Group is one of the leaders in the retail trade not only in Armenia but also throughout the region. SAS Group gives high priority to the quality of the products and satisfies the needs of all its customers. SAS Group manages the dynamically developing SAS trade chain in Armenia. It is one of the leading food importers and cooperates with a number of well-known suppliers and producers.