Azerbaijan Banks Association: Application of IBAN-based unique identification structure is important

The implementation of an IBAN-based unique identification structure and ensuring the opening of payment accounts on this basis is of crucial importance for conducting payment operations in Azerbaijan based on advanced international experience, as well as for fully utilizing the capabilities of the Instant Payment System.

Report informs that this was stated by Zakir Nuriyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA) Public Union, at Baku Fintech Forum 2025.

"As the competitive environment in the ecosystem increases, compliance with this requirement will play an important role in attracting payment service users under equal conditions. Within the framework of bank-fintech cooperation, it is important to keep in focus making joint anti-fraud measures more effective and involving all fintech ecosystem participants in the implementation of these measures. These measures should include, along with the creation of a centralized platform, individual actions by each payment service provider, improvement of infrastructure capabilities, attraction of additional resources, and implementation of preventive measures.

In this area, issues such as mutual relations with foreign payment service providers, information exchange, and the process of resolving incomplete payment transactions should also be regulated in a more transparent and clear manner. We believe that studying international experience to establish liability limits in legislation for fraudulent operations resulting from payment service users providing payment instruments to other persons, and formulating requirements on this basis, will enable more effective joint efforts," he noted.

According to Zakir Nuriyev, in the next strategic period, the integration process of fintechs into the open banking platform should be accelerated for the successful implementation of the open finance approach in the ecosystem: "In parallel, defining unified standards for open banking will create conditions for establishing integration connections between payment service providers on an equal basis. The possibilities of applying a regulatory sandbox for further expansion of innovative solutions and technologies can be improved again in line with current development trends.

For example, this process should be continuous, and applications should be accepted on an ongoing basis. Generally, the occasional failure of projects in the regulatory test regime called 'sandbox' is itself a success and means development toward the future. Ecosystem participants should approach the testing of new projects in the regulatory sandbox more thoroughly and make it one of their priority targets. Considering the advantages of applying this approach, the participation of each organization will contribute to the formation of an innovative culture in the ecosystem. We believe that the supervision and regulation measures applied in the regulatory test regime should differ from the traditional approach. As a result, we can confidently say that today the fintech ecosystem in our country is developing against the background of successful reforms, integrations with banks are deepening, and new directions of activity are being defined."