BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 8
By Sadraddin Aghjayev - Trend:
Non-cash payments in Azerbaijan increased by more than eight percent in January through October 2021, the First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) Alim Guliyev said at the 5th International Banking Forum in Baku, Trend reports.
“Fast-paced digital technology has proven to be effective during the COVID-19 pandemic. During this period, banking grew by 23 percent and mobile banking - by 30 percent. E-commerce also grew by 17 percent during 2020," he said.
"Digitalization continues to be a trend today," Guliyev said, adding that Azerbaijan is looking to establish cooperation with global players such as Amazon and a number of other companies.
“In the field of cybersecurity, the CBA considers this sector the highest priority and carries out large-scale work. In the period from 2018 to 2020, large projects were carried out to switch to non-cash payments. Within the framework of this program, last year, the CBA presented a solution for accepting payments using QR codes. Also, the "blockchain and big data" has been developed and put into operation, which today expands its functionality, including the possibility to remotely open bank accounts and cards," Guliyev said.
He noted that another successful project is implementation of a project on payment by means of travel cards on the Baku-Sumgayit trains.
"Also, we have activated NFC payments in a number of banking applications," he said.
According to Guliyev, in ten months of 2021, non-cash payments increased by 8.2 percent and exceeded 30 percent.
"Domestic payments increased by 70 percent. E-commerce grew by 64 percent, or by 5.5 billion manats ($3.2 billion). This strategy for the development of non-cash payments will continue until 2026. The new strategic approach will create an additional incentive for the development of non-cash payments," he added.
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