Azerbaijan's National Payment System handles AZN590B in nine months

Azerbaijan processed 590 billion manats ($347.06 billion) through the National Payment System in January–September of this year, according to Zakir Nuriyev, President of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA), Report informs.

Speaking at the 9th International Banking Forum in Baku, held in partnership with Mastercard, Nuriyev noted that this represents a 9.4% increase compared with the same period last year. He emphasized that digitalization-especially the expansion of the digital payments ecosystem and the growing share of cashless transactions-is an important indicator of progress.

He added that ongoing reforms continue to broaden overall payment turnover processed through the national infrastructure.

During the same period, domestic payment card transactions reached 72.2 billion manats ($42.5 billion), up 29.1% from a year earlier. This rapid growth raised the share of cashless payments by four percentage points to 67.4%.

Nuriyev said the ABA is actively voicing its proposals on further developing the digital payments ecosystem and ensuring its security. Expected reforms for the next strategic period include establishing an innovation hub, adopting a new legal framework for digital banking, improving legislation on payment services and systems, and slightly easing the supervisory sandbox regime.