BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 31. The number of Visa payment cards in circulation in Kazakhstan far exceeds the number of Mastercard cards, Trend reports citing the National Bank of Kazakhstan.
As of October 1, 2022, a total of 62.6 million payment cards were in circulation, growing by 11.7 percent against the same period in 2021. Out of the total number, 21.2 million credit cards came from local payment systems, while 41.4 million – from international systems.
Meantime, the number of Visa payment cards in circulation amounted to 31.5 million, which was 6.7 percent more than in the same period of 2021. Out of these, 28.3 million were debit cards, 1.3 million were credit cards, and 1.9 million were debit cards with a credit limit.
As many as 8.1 million Mastercard cards were in circulation in Kazakhstan (a growth of 30.9 percent year over year). Thus, 7.8 million cards were debit cards, 355,100 – credit cards, 2,500 – debit bank cards with a credit limit.
In the reporting period, payment cards in Kazakhstan were issued by 18 banks and Kazpost JSC. Among the issued payment cards are cards of Visa International, Mastercard Worldwide, UnionPay International, and American Express International payment systems.
Kazakh banks issue payment cards of local systems as well: JSC Altyn Bank cards (a subsidiary of Halyk Bank of Kazakhstan JSC), JSC Citibank Kazakhstan cards, and Kaspi.kz payment card systems (Kaspi Bank JSC).