Banking specialists and Telecommunication sector discussed whose fail is more in the slow development of e-commerce in Armenia
ArmInfo. During the comprehensive discussions arranged by Ameriabank, the experts of services sector, telecommunications and banking sector referred to issues elated to e-commerce development in Armenia.
Summarizing the opinions expressed, Arman Barseghyan, the Retail Banking Director of Ameriabank among the main obstacles for the development of the sector mentioned stated first the problems referred to the quality and accessibility of communications in Armenia, mentioning the insufficiency of banking cards and services expansion. He stated also that beside the targets aimed by the bank there are also problems of another character existing, particularly related to the social aspect of population 's life. In this respect Barseghyan presented the situation in Georgia: "Studying the situation in Georgia we discovered that the situation there is a bit better than we have. The matter is that the middle class in Georgia is larger than here in Armenia, and , correspondingly, the number of potential users of banking services is higher there in Georgia."
Hayk Karapetyan, the Commercial Director of ArmenTel JSC argued: " I would ask not to state the problem of communication quality as the primary one, because it is not right." At that, he referred to to the communication quality in Russia and Belarus, which is left far behind in comparison to that of Armenian providers. According to Karapetyan, the main problem is still the banking cards usage expansion. " In Armenia there is one card per person, while in Russia this figure forms four, " he accentuated. At the same time, Karapetyan mentioned the necessity to set a simple system, allowing the maximal number of sites to launch online payments within simple tools.
In his turn, Ara Barseghyan, the Commercial Director of UCom, supported his colleague, adding that the most serious steps in respect to e-commerce development in Armenia should be taken by banks first. In this respect he mentioned the necessity to motivate the population for using banking cards, particularly through different events, bonuses, cash backs etc, as well as to provide the opportunity of online launch of accounts.
In this respect Bourastan Movsisyan, The Ameriabank Director for Technologies and Operations accentuated that the bank undertakes serious steps in the aspect of mobile and internet banking, and new solutions are close to be completed and the presentation is expected to be held soon.