The level of non-cash payments use increases in Azerbaijan, Director General of the processing center Azericard, located in a 100 per cent ownership of the International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA) Anar Sultanov informed press.

During the year, the total number of installed POS-terminals tripled - to 36,702 as of October 1, 2012.
"A lot of work was held by the Ministry of Taxes to install POS-terminals on the eve of Eurovision. Some 30,000 new POS-terminals were installed together with the banks, which shows that the level of non-cash payments increased in Azerbaijan," Sultanov said.

He noted that banks are planning to introduce various benefit programs in order to promote the use of non-cash payments in the country. For example, the IBA created bonus club, which includes 15-20 commercial properties, and the customer, implementing payment by card, get some bonuses, which can then be used within the same club.

"Many local banks are working in this direction, as the promotion of non-cash payments among the population can be done through the introduction of bonuses and extra features" Sultanov said.

At present the company has about 2.5 million cards, which is about 45 percent of the total market in the country. In addition to local banks, Azericard serves IBA-Moscow and it is planned that the Georgian subsidiary of IBA will also be transited to Azericard system. Royal Bank of Scotland Uzbekistan is also a partner of Azericard.