Baku, Azerbaijan, Sept. 14
By Jeyhun Alakbarov - Trend:
In Azerbaijan, it is necessary to improve the non-cash payment system, Ramil Mahmudov, Chief of the National payments systems development at the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), Ramil Mahmudov told Trend.
Presently, the system of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan is not at the proper level, according to Mahmudov.
"Compared to previous years, the volume of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan has increased slightly, but despite this, problems still exist. Despite the availability of potential in this area, the gaps indicate that it is necessary to strengthen work in this field. Adjusting the quality of non-cash payments in Azerbaijan to global indicators is one of the main tasks before the Central Bank of Azerbaijan," Mahmudov said.
"Increasing security in non-cash payments has always been a priority for the Central Bank of Azerbaijan. Recently, we drafted amendments to our rules for the use of plastic cards. One of the projects is about increasing security level of online payments. The facts of card fraud, revealed recently, show that the vector of fraud is gradually moving towards electronic commerce, because here it is much easier to carry out such fraudulent acts," he said.
"In order to prevent such fraud, banks must have proper training and a stable policy to counteract. We, on our behalf, are working with banks and making the necessary changes to the rules. Along with the banks, the special working group of the Azerbaijani Association of Banks is also working on the issue," Mahmudov said.
According to the CBA, in January-July 2018, turnover of transactions made by payment cards via ATMs and POS-terminals in Azerbaijan totaled 9.86 billion manat, which is 20.2 percent more than the figure of the same period of 2017. The total number of transactions with payment cards during the reported period amounted to 65.27 million (an increase of 20.7 percent).
As of the end of July, the number of payment cards, compared to the indicator at early 2018, increased by 6.45 percent to 6.17 million.
Most of the cards - about 5.35 million are debit cards, 2.5 million are social cards, 1.9 million - salary cards, and 0.92 million are other cards. The number of credit cards for the period was 823,000.
($1 = 1.7 AZN on Sept. 14)