BAKU, Azerbaijan, Nov. 26
By Sadraddin Agjayev - Trend:
VISA is ready to support small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) in Azerbaijan in the transition to cashless payments and in the use of financial technologies, vice president and regional manager of VISA in Central Asia and Azerbaijan Kristina Dorosh told Trend.
According to Dorosh, while payment services and consumer tools are evolving, the use of payment technology by businesses has yet to reach the level that VISA expects.
“Nevertheless, we see tremendous opportunities in providing businesses in general with convenient payment technologies for the development of digital payments and the transition to non-cash payments,” she said.
Dorosh also named the main directions in which the company operates in Azerbaijan.
“I am proud to announce that Azerbaijan has become the first market in our region EMEA (Europe, the Middle East and Africa), including almost 90 countries, which have implemented the VISA B2B Connect solution. This non-card solution for large and corporate businesses runs on blockchain - distributed ledger technologies. With this solution, companies - exporters and importers that conduct cross-border activities are able to make global interbank payments. Making such payments has become more convenient, faster and more transparent," VISA vice president said.
"We know that it is sometimes difficult to track a payment going through many correspondent banks, and using VISA B2B Connect, a business has a very convenient tool for making such transactions. We are very glad that it was Kapital Bank, our strategic partner in Azerbaijan, that became the first bank to provide this service. ExpressBank has joined this project today. A number of other banks in the country are also expected to connect to it,” Dorosh said.
She also noted that the use of payment instruments for SMEs is a tool that allows companies to more efficiently manage their cash flows.
“Our company, in partnership with Azerbaijani banks, provides SMEs with the necessary range of instruments: VISA Business cards, VISA Business Platinum. The use of these payment instruments allows companies to optimize their cash flows, transfer cash to non-cash, as well as receive additional privileges and benefits. Services of audit, legal, accounting companies are very important for SMEs, and when using VISA Business Platinum cards, these services can be obtained free of charge or at a discount,” Dorosh said.
Dorosh also said that VISA has built a Business Offer platform in Azerbaijan.
“This includes a huge number of opportunities to receive discounts or use various digital tools for SMEs for free. The spectrum also includes various applications, electronic platforms, for example, such a service as "Digital Concierge" (in the form of a chatbot in any messenger). This chatbot is capable of serving both individual users (holders of simple VISA debit cards) and small businesses,” she noted.
In addition, she said that the range of services provided by the chatbot is very wide: requesting an opportunity, assessing the market from the point of view of any product at its minimum / maximum cost, the ability to find out where, in what region, this or that necessary product is located, accounting services and a number of others.
“This whole range of solutions, tools and additional services of VISA is certainly a very good driver for stimulating companies to use all payment instruments," Dorosh said.
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