Payment card security standards to become mandatory in Azerbaijan

The Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA) will introduce mandatory standards on payment card security in all banks starting next year.

Elnur Eyvazli, Director of the Information Security, Cybersecurity and Digital Fraud Prevention Department at the CBA, said this at an event titled "The Future of Financial Cybersecurity in the Age of Artificial Intelligence" held in Baku, Report informs.

According to him, the CBA plans to apply the PCI DSS standard (Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard) to all banks and payment organizations.

"There is an international security standard in the payment sector called PCI DSS. Starting next year, certification under this standard is expected to be mandatory annually not only for banks with processing centers, but also for banks without processing. The same approach is planned to be applied to payment organizations as well. The goal is to further increase security and reliability in the financial sector," he said.

The CBA official noted that work is also being carried out to ensure data quality and cleanliness.

"For example, when data entered into KYC and other systems does not match other data, the correct information is taken from the relevant platforms and clarified, and the party that sent incorrect information is immediately notified. This aims to ensure the accuracy and cleanliness of data across the sector," he said.