BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, February 21. The total number of bank payment cards in circulation in Kyrgyzstan exceeded 6.89 million cards as of December 31, 2023, Trend reports.
Compared to the same period last year, the number of cards increased by 31.6 percent, according to the National Bank of Kyrgyzstan.
The Elcard national payment system comprised 3.472 million cards, accounting for 50.4 percent of all cards in circulation. Cards from international systems constituted 49.6 percent of the total, totaling 3.417 million cards.
In terms of regions, over half of the cards were in the capital city of Kyrgyzstan, Bishkek, representing 50.9 percent of the total, or 3.506 million cards. Bishkek boasts the highest concentration of financial institutions in the country, leading to the most developed payment services market.
The regions with the fewest cards were Talas, with 181,413 cards (2.6 percent of the total), and Naryn, with 210,378 cards (3.1 percent of the total).
As of December 31, there were 23 commercial banks and 320 branches of commercial banks operating in the country.