As of July 1, 2020, six international payment card systems and the Elcart national system were functioning in Kyrgyzstan. These data are published in the “Report on the Stability of the Financial Sector of the Kyrgyz Republic for the first half of 2020” of the country’s National Bank, Trend reports citing Kabar.
The report states that in recent years there has been a positive trend in the level of penetration of bank cards.
Thus, as of July 1, 2020, the total number of payment cards in circulation increased by 12.5% compared to the same period last year, and amounted to 3 million 39.7 thousand pieces.
The total number of ATMs and POS-terminals installed throughout the country amounted to 1,771 and 11,518, respectively (of these, 9,336 POS-terminals installed in trade and service enterprises and 2,182 POS-terminals - in the branches of commercial banks).
Compared to the first half of the previous year, the growth of ATMs made up 9.3% and POS-terminals – 6%. In the review period, all 23 commercial banks were working with the Elcart national system.
In terms of international payment card systems, commercial banks currently work with such international payment systems as Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Union Pay, Zolotaya Korona and Mir.