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Azerbaijani postal operator not going to rush to expansion of ATM network

Azerbaijan Materials 28 April 2012 12:58 (UTC +04:00)

Azerbaijan, Baku, April 28 / Trend H.Veliyev /

Azerbaijani postal operator, Azerpost, in the near future will begin to install ATMs in the city of Sumgait (30 km from Baku), the Ministry of Communications and Information Technologies of Azerbaijan told Trend on Saturday.

According to the ministry, over the past two months, the postal operator installed an ATM in Baku, and two in Ganja.

In the near future Azerpost plans to expand the number of ATMs in the capital and begin installing them in Sumgait. At present, the total number of ATMs in the Azerpost network is more than 10 units.

"Significant progress in the process of expanding the ATM network has not yet been reached. This is due to the fact that the postal operator issues debit cards of MasterCard international payment system, and its local cards do not enjoy such high demand among the population. Local cards are mainly used for receiving salaries," the ministry said.

The question of the rapid deployment of a wide range of financial services in the postal network is complicated by the fact that Azerpost has an extensive network, which requires effective management, building a reliable IT-infrastructure, etc.

Taking into account the cost of each ATM (about $ 20,000), the ministry said, their purchase and installation must be done taking into account the return on investment. Each ATM also requires maintenance and filling of the funds.

"If there is no money, no one will use them. Accordingly, the expansion of the ATM network will not be effective and will amount to a "dead capital"," the ministry said.

Nevertheless, the development of financial services in the postal operator's network continues at quite a high rate. For example, the postal operator of Kazakhstan has started to provide financial services in 1999, to issue credit cards - in 2007, and in 2010 was able to lend. Comparing the experience of Azerbaijan and Kazakhstan, we can say that the pace of development of financial services in Azerbaijan goes faster. Azerpost received permission of the country's central bank to provide financial services in 2010, and began to issue cards in 2011.

An important component in the development of financial services in postal network is its recognition. In the framework of technical assistance of Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs (SECO) it will assist in forming the image of Azerpost, the training of postal operator's personnel.

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