BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 18. Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) is implementing a number of measures in order to accelerate digital transformation in the financial market, expand financial inclusiveness as well as provide banking services for clients on digital platforms and ensure access to financial services, Executive Director of CBA Farid Osmanov told Trend.
According to him, these measures and projects are being implemented as part of various strategies.
"Thus, for example, as part of digital payments for 2021-2023 strategy, the CBA is working in five following directions: expanding digital payment solutions, supporting and simplifying the procedure for entering the financial technology market, establishing a risk-based control procedure and appropriate framework, expanding financial inclusiveness in particular, minimizing the difference between cities and regions and stimulating the adoption of payment decisions," Osmanov said.
"In addition, the CBA is implementing a project aimed at simplifying the implementation of instant payments (Ani Pay). From this point of view, the bank is working to inform the population and business from January through September 2022, payments through the Ani Pay system increased by 2.2 times, and the number of transactions - by 3.4 times compared to the same period in 2021," he stated.
"Along with this, Central Bank wants banking processes to comply with international standards, and for this purpose, work is underway to implement the ISO 222 standard. I note that most of the information components of the national payment system of Azerbaijan have been brought into line with this standard. CBA believes that these works will be fully completed by the end of 2022 - the beginning of 2023. The introduction of this standard will allow us to simplify the automation of payment processes and increase the efficiency of reports," Osmanov said.
He also stressed that the formation of a regulatory framework is important in this direction.
"Here it's about the introduction of Open Banking in the country. The Central Bank, with the support of an international financial corporation, prepared a roadmap for 2021. This roadmap provides for the implementation of various activities in the period 2021-2025. Implementation of Open Banking will simplify entry into the market for fintech companies, ensure the availability of financial services, simplify integration with banks and provide a number of other benefits," Osmanov said.