BAKU, Azerbaijan, May 31. The number of Visa bank cards in circulation in Kazakhstan significantly exceeded the number of those of MasterCard as of May 1, 2022, Trend reports via the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
According to the bank, the total number of bank cards in circulation in the country amounted to 58.6 million (with only 19.8 million accounting for local payment systems, and 38.8 million - for international systems), up by 11.5 percent on annual basis.
The number of Visa cards in circulation in Kazakhstan as of May 1 this year equaled 28.02 million, which is 14.3 percent more than the same period in 2021. Of these, 25.3 million were debit cards, 1.8 million - were debit cards with a credit limit, and 1.6 million - were credit cards.
Meanwhile, the number of MasterCard bank cards in circulation in the country settled at 8.3 million, which is 7.6 percent less than as of May 1, 2021. Of these, 8.05 million were debit bank cards, 318,100 - credit cards, and 3,300 - debit cards with a credit limit.
The issue of bank cards was carried out by 19 banks and Kazpost JSC. These organizations issue payment cards of international systems - VISA International, MasterCard Worldwide, UnionPay International, and American Express International.
Moreover, Kazakh banks issue payment cards of local systems: Altyn Card (“Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan” JSC, “Citibank Kazakhstan” local card (Citibank Kazakhstan JSC), and Kaspi.kz payment card system (Kaspi Bank JSC).