BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 24
By Zeyni Jafarov - Trend:
Of course, the main trend in non-cash payments is e-commerce, in which rapid growth has been observed, Cristina Doros, Visa regional manager for the Caucasus region, told Trend.
“During the crisis caused by the coronavirus pandemic, the internet has become not just a convenient or another platform for interaction between sellers and consumers, but often the only way to conduct business and make purchases,” Doros added.
“Online payments in the countries of the Caucasus region increased by 80 percent in the third quarter of 2020 compared to the same period of last year,” regional manager said. “Azerbaijan made a great contribution to the total volume of payments with Visa cards in this region.”
"As for Visa's global figures, online payment volume has grown at a rate of over 20 percent weekly since mid-April 2020," regional manager added.
“The audience expresses more confidence in online channels, which entails an increase in the number of buyers on the internet,” Doros said. “Thus, 80 percent of users in the CEMEA region (the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa) find e-commerce convenient and plan to use digital payments in the future.”
Regarding the ecosystem of non-cash payments, Doros emphasized that this category has greatly expanded and new players have entered it.
“The work is underway with classic banks,” regional manager added. “The cooperation with non-banking organizations and fintech companies is being strengthened and expanded. We value an innovative and at the same time systematic approach of partners, as well as the ability to implement large-scale projects on the basis of the most advanced technologies. A brilliant example of such cooperation is Visa's partnership with the biggest loyalty platform in Azerbaijan - Umico.”
"It is important for us not only to develop new payment solutions, but also to offer them to a wide range of the population, therefore, we also broadly cooperate with the biggest marketplaces such as Trendyol and retail chains," Doros added.
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