Astana, Kazakhstan, Feb.3
By Daniyar Mukhtarov - Trend:
Only 11 banks in Kazakhstan work with two or more payment systems, said a message of analytical service Ranking.kz.
"One can make international card transfers on both world systems - Visa and MasterCard in ATMs of only three banks," said the message. "The most popular international systems in Kazakhstan are Visa and MasterCard. MasterCard system is presented in 15 second-tier banks, including three of the top banks in the country. Visa is presented in 22 second-tier banks, and in 10 of them on exclusive rights."
In total, Kazakhstan has four international payment systems and two - local.
The message said that payment systems offer card transfers through ATMs for those who are accustomed to use these devices.
Major international systems have Visa to Visa and MasterCard MoneySend services. These services provide the ability to transfer money between cards of the same payment system, regardless of the country or the bank that issued the card.
"Among the Kazakh payment card users, non-cash payments through ATMs and bank kiosks are more popular than online payments for now," said the message. "On the results of 2013, users of cards made 32 percent of the total number of non-cash payments using ATMs and only 24 percent over the Internet. POS-terminals accounted for 41 percent of non-cash transactions, according to the National Bank of Kazakhstan."
Compared with conventional money transfers, the transfers using payment cards have several advantages: the ability of conducting operation any time from the nearest ATM and united tariffs in all directions.
The average tariff for the transfer between cards of one system via ATM is 1 percent of the amount (credit cards - 2 percent), plus a fixed rate - starting from 300 KZT ($1 - 184.45 KZT).
"Despite the convenience of card transfer, MasterCard MoneySend service is available only at ATMs of three banks, and Visa to Visa - six second-tier banks. One can benefit from the card transfers of both systems only in ATMs of Sberbank, Kazkom + BTA and group Alliance + Temir + Forte," the message said.
Edited by CN