DUSHANBE, November 29, Asia-Plus  -- AgroInvestBonk has applied for becoming principle member of the payment systems VISA International and MasterCard. 

According to the AgroInvestBonk headquarters in Dushanbe, at present the bank is associated member of these two payment systems and working with them through stakeholder – Russia’s bank UralSib.   

По словам источника, принципиальное членство, в первую очередь, даст возможность таджикскому банку перейти на прямые расчёты с платёжной системой и, тем самым, увеличить виды карточек, выпускаемых банком.

“to become principle member of these two international associations our bank has to meet a number of certain requirements,” said the source, “At present we try to meet all necessary requirements and hope that next year, AgroInvestBonk will become the principle member of VISA International and MasterCard.” 

“This year, AgroInvestBonk has issued more than 8,000 credit cards, which is twice as much than last year,” the source said, noting that their bank issues credit cards of VISA Gold, Eurocard/MasterCard Gold, VISA Classic, VISA Election, Eurocard/MasterCard Business, Eurocard/MasterCard Standard, STB/Maestro, Maestro and STB Professional Classic.  

According to Tajik central bank, a number of holders of the credit card holders in the country, as of October 1, 2006, has amounted to 11,769 people, which is 7,300 more than last year.  

Founded in 1992, AgroInvestBonk, with headquarters in Dushanbe, has main branches in Khorog, Khujand, Kulob and Qurghon Teppa and 57 other branches across the republic. AgroInvestBonk’s declared capital includes 210,000 shares, valued at 21 million somonis. The face value of one share is 100 somonis.  As of October 1, 2006, the AgroInvestBonk regulative capital has amounted to 47.1 million somonis (equivalent to more than US$13 million).