Azerbaijan, Baku, 9 June / corr. Trend I. Khalilova/ The Association of Banks of Azerbaijan (ABA) has conducted an opinion poll among the bank system if this country on the use of POS-terminals which are important for the National Bank for the development of measures to stimulate their use, Farhad Aliyev, the managing director of ABA said.
"The chief aim is revealing problems which create setback the large-scale introduction of POS-terminals which is key to the development of system of cashless settlements in Azerbaijan," Aliyev said.
As of 1 May, there are 6,492,000 POS-terminals in Azerbaijan with 5,996 of them accounting for Baku and 496 - regions.
Serious work has been carried out for the automation of process of salary and pension payments in line with the state program on development of the national payment system. According to Rustamov, there are still problems in the cashless settlement system. More than 90% of people with plastic cards cash their money through cash machines.
"We are not aware of the reasons why the population and trade centers refuse to use POS-terminals," Elman Rustamov, the chairman of NBA Board of Directors said earlier. Therefore we are thinking over additional measures to stimulate the development of cashless settlement system so that the people will not stand in a long queue to take their cash out the cash machines, he said.
The Ministry of Taxes is holding talks with the banks to lower the high commissions for bank operations which do not suit entrepreneurs.
The control over cash registers and POS-terminals will be intensified in 2008 due to the increased powers of tax bodies.
According to representatives of tax bodies, it was impossible to complete the transfer to the cashless settlements in trade outlets and service industry in 2007 because of the problems in this regard. However, the Cabinet of Ministers decreed to complete this process by the end of 2007.
The drop in bank commissions also depends on the intense activity of population in using plastic cards as it can be beneficial for banks in case of rise in their turnover. At present, the bank commissions make up 1.5-2% of the turnover.
There will be additional 20,000 POS terminals in the country after they are introduced. This process is expected to end by the end of 2008.
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