BAKU, Azerbaijan, Dec. 12
By Nazrin Israfilova - Trend:
The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) is taking measures to ensure a higher level of development of non-cash payments, First Deputy Chairman of the Board of the CBA Alim Guliyev said.
"The CBA has developed a special strategy. We have implemented the state program for 2018-2020. The CBA has a national payment strategy for 2022-2024. This document contains all measures for the development of non-cash payments in the country," Guliyev said.
"We are taking various measures to achieve a higher level of development of non-cash payments, to ensure their inclusiveness and accessibility. These measures will cover 2022-2024," Guliyev said.
The CBA is conducting research to create a digital manat and the Azerbaijani government is negotiating on this issue.
According to the CBA’s international settlements, 88 percent of transactions are made in US dollars, four percent in Chinese yuan.
The fact that the yuan is one step ahead in terms of a digital currency shows that Azerbaijan will witness big changes in the world of digital currency.
Digital currency will almost completely and greatly change the financial and banking sector.
The financial sphere is being changed in Azerbaijan.
The latest change was the introduction of cryptocurrencies based on blockchain technology. The work has been already launched to create a digital manat. The Azerbaijani government is conducting the corresponding negotiations on this issue.
A transition to open and digital banking is envisaged in Azerbaijan over the next five years.
For the first time in Azerbaijan, non-cash payments reached 30 percent of the total turnover, and Azerbaijan will increase this figure. Contactless payments have tripled, and transactions have grown six times.
Apple Pay has been launched in Azerbaijan, which will create additional growth in contactless payments.
A base is also being developed to support financial technologies, the CBA is developing a program to reduce the risks of entrepreneurship and banking, informing society about digital solutions. Azerbaijan is implementing a number of big projects with MasterCard both at the government level and at the level of banking partnerships.
A platform for the exchange of information in the field of cybersecurity in the banking sector can be created in Azerbaijan.
Azerbaijan does not exclude that such a platform will be created in the future by the CBA in cooperation with other banks. This decision will allow the CBA to exchange information with other banks in the field of cybersecurity and facilitate the exchange of information between partner organizations in this area.
The CBA instructed the local banks to optimize their information security in accordance with ISO 27000 standards by April 2022.
These rules of compliance to the standards were developed in 2021 in cooperation with all banks operating in the country.
The rules were approved in June 2021. Given the complexity of their implementation, the banks should implement them till April 2022.
The beginning of the formation of a legal framework for open banking in Azerbaijan is scheduled for 2022.
Open banking is a fundamental basis for the development of a startup ecosystem. It is planned to begin to form an appropriate legal framework in 2022, standards will be developed in accordance with the requirements of AISP (Account Information Service Providers) and PISP (Payments Initiation Service Provider) in 2022-2023. The work has been carried out to form open banking on the basis of this legal framework and standards.
The CBA will develop a document on a conceptual approach to the creation of the digital currency in 2022.
The creation of digital currency is one of the most pressing issues and the CBA has been actively involved in this process since 2021.
In international practice, most of the banks are already working on digital currencies to be issued by the central banks and most of the central banks are conducting research in this sphere. The CBA is among them.
Non-cash payments in Azerbaijan increased by more than eight percent from January through October 2021.
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. Digitalization continues to be a trend today.
AzeriCard processing center will launch an expanded contactless payment system by the end of the second quarter of 2022.
These are contactless payment technologies. Different identifiers can be applied here, such as biometric data, state registration numbers of cars, etc. This is an important direction in our next three-year strategy. It includes the development of the Azericard contactless payment technology alliance and the creation of new payment instruments through the joint efforts of member organizations of this alliance.
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.
The total number of taxpayers in Azerbaijan as of December 1, 2021, increased by 9.9 percent compared to the same period in 2020.
Some 87.8 percent out of 1,321,539 taxpayers registered in Azerbaijan as of December 1, 2021 were individuals and 12.2 percent - legal entities.
Thus, 10,769 commercial organizations were registered in Azerbaijan from January through November 2021, which is 28.5 percent more than in the same period of last year.
In particular, local investments were made in 90.7 percent of registered commercial enterprises, while foreign investments accounted for 9.3 percent.
A negative balance of $565.9 million was formed in the balance of the Azerbaijani portfolio investments from January through September 2021.
Net financial assets in the portfolio investments of Azerbaijan from January through September 2021 grew by $388.2 million, the CBA said.
According to the CBA, in the reporting period, net financial liabilities in this segment decreased by $177.7 million.
The number of active VAT payers increased by 17.3 percent and reached 34,191 in Azerbaijan as of December 1, 2021.
According to the message, the number of active taxpayers increased by 7.2 percent during the reporting period compared to early 2021 and reached 660,838 people.
The turnover through new generation cash registers reached about 14 billion manat ($8.2 billion) in Azerbaijan from January through November 2021, which is by 85.8 percent more compared to the same period of last year.
According to the message, 50,653 new generation cash registers were installed as of December 1, 2021.
The revenues from compulsory state social insurance contributions as part of revealing the employees hired upon employment contracts and the payroll fund amounted to 3.4 billion manat ($2 billion) in Azerbaijan from January through November 2021, which is by eight percent more compared to the same period of last year.
During the reporting period, the revenues from compulsory state social insurance contributions exceeded the forecast figure by 309.6 million manat ($182.1 million).