BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
The development of contactless payments is one of the main incentives for the further digitalization of the Azerbaijani economy, Vice President and Regional Manager of VISA in Central Asia and Azerbaijan Kristina Dorosh told Trend on Dec. 8.
According to Dorosh, from the point of view of the development of contactless payments, the main trends in Azerbaijan are the launch of tokenization and Apple Pay, work on expanding the network for accepting cards for payment, the introduction of Tap to Phone technology (the ability to autonomously accept contactless payments on an Android mobile device with NFC support) and several banks of Azerbaijan are already working in this direction.
"'Tap to Phone' technology will help develop contactless payments not only in cities, but also in remote settlements where the Internet is weak. We understand that accepting non-cash payments in rural areas is a problematic task, but we are working on building a payment acceptance network. 'Tap to Phone' will be a huge step in this direction. As soon as this technology is launched together with banks, we will be able to witness a significant increase in non-cash payments in Azerbaijan," she said.
The vice president of VISA noted that cooperation with payment services is another main direction of development of e-commerce.
"We are actively cooperating with key players in this direction and are focused on providing access to more online platforms. Creating an online store expands the boundaries of an entrepreneur's store throughout the country and even beyond its borders. The development of e-commerce will remain one of the key areas for us, and we are trying to attract as many small business players as possible," Dorosh emphasized.
In addition, she noted that in order to stimulate the use of e-commerce platforms, a campaign has been launched for Azerbaijani users of VISA cards.
"Thus, Azerbaijani users, making purchases on such Turkish Internet platforms as Hepsi Burada, Trendyol, receive many bonuses. This helps to develop e-commerce not only in Azerbaijan, but also at the international level," Dorosh said.
Also, vice president of VISA noted that from August 2020 to August 2021, the volume of payments with VISA cards grew by more than 14 percent, and the number of transactions increased by 50 percent.
“Now the situation is different with the places where non-cash payments were previously impossible. Now we can pay in non-cash form for taxi services, small businesses and a number of other services. The introduction of tools for accepting non-cash payments by small businesses has a significant impact on the dynamics of payments, "she added.
In addition, Dorosh noted that, despite the difficulties during 2020 associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, VISA was able to achieve very good results, and this activity will continue.
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