Baku, Azerbaijan, Nov. 23
By Huseyn Veliyev - Trend:
Azerbaijan may leave bank cards behind by switching to the use of mobile technologies offline, as it happened in China, a source in Azerbaijan’s financial market told Trend.
The number of bank card users in Azerbaijan is insignificant and amounts to only 10 percent of the total population, the source noted.
“Similar indicators were also in the Chinese market, but there people preferred to use payments based on QR technology,” the source said. “QR code payments are available everywhere in China. Azerbaijan already has plans regarding this technology and a number of companies are already reviewing their strategy, relying specifically on QR code payments. However, they will need to implement this work on a large scale and with serious partners.”
In some countries, contactless technologies were successful, in some not, the source added.
“Russia, for example, is a leader in the field of contactless payments,” the source said. “In this market, ApplePay and SamsungPay technologies gained great popularity. The arrival of ApplePay, SamsungPay and GooglePay in Azerbaijan is stipulated in the state program for the development of e-payments for 2018-2020. It will become known whether they will gain popularity in Azerbaijan after banks start connecting to them.”
“The bank coffers the QR Pay service, for the use of which it is enough to download the BirBank mobile application,” the source noted. “After making a purchase, it is necessary to scan a QR code on special posters installed at the cash desks of stores with a smartphone camera. In order to make a payment, you can use the account of any bank card registered in BirBank, including bank cards not related to Kapital Bank.”
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