PARIS, France, July 6. Visa expects wider adoption of new payment technologies in Azerbaijan.
Shahebaz Khan, Senior Vice President, Head of Commercial and Money Movement Solutions for Central Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) at Visa, said in an exclusive interview with Trend on the sidelines of the Visa payment Forum Media Day in Paris that Visa is trying to reimagine and reinvent how businesses accept payments and how they make payments.
"When we think about how we want to innovate that experience, we try to find out what is the easiest way for somebody to onboard these experiences. We call it consumerization of business-to-business (B2B) payments. Consumers are very comfortable using their phones for digital payment services, doing their online banking using a mobile banking app. Especially in markets like Azerbaijan, consumers are also very comfortable making peer-to-peer (P2P) payments as the infrastructure is very well established. We want to bring the same consumer experiences to B2B payments. The way we are doing it on the acceptance side is through Tap to Phone, which allows consumers to make payments using their phones. Now, as a merchant, you can also use your phone as an acceptance device. This used to be a major hurdle, as many merchants needed to obtain a point-of-sale device. But now, with just a phone, merchants can accept payments directly on their devices," he said.
Shahebaz Khan noted that instead of waiting for a bank to onboard, clients can simply download the app and enroll in Visa Accept, a platform that enables to accept payments either face-to-face or by sending a payment link for peer-to-peer (P2P) or person-to-merchant (P2M) transactions.
"On the payment side, we offer our commercial card solutions, which help businesses distinguish between consumer and commercial payments. They also provide detailed payment data, allowing businesses to track receivables and payables and better manage their cash flow. We also have Visa Direct, which is already well established in Azerbaijan and across the CIS region. With Visa Direct, businesses can make payments directly to staff, employees, or content creators into their bank accounts, cards, or digital wallets, which are widely used in our markets. Visa Direct provides access to 12 billion endpoints, enabling businesses to make B2B payments. In this way, we're addressing both sides of the equation, making it much simpler for businesses to adopt innovative ways of both receiving and making payments," said Visa's senior vice-president.
He pointed out that the overview of the average growth of Tap to Phone across CEMEA markets shows around 200% growth across the board.
"Some markets are growing faster because they launched earlier, while others entered the market later and have been a bit slower to gain traction. However, the encouraging news for us is that we're seeing tremendous growth everywhere. In some previously underpenetrated markets, growth has been even stronger. Azerbaijan was already penetrated with digital payments. Even so, when we introduce a product that is so important and powerful, and we see this kind of uptake across the market, it's a very encouraging sign for us. Our focus is on educating and onboarding as many acquirers as possible so they can offer this solution to their clients and merchants. We work very closely with them to ensure that everything we build on the backend can be easily integrated. We provide Software Development Kits (SDKs) and Application Programming Interface (APIs) that allow them to onboard into their online experience as quickly as possible. We're working closely with our partners to ensure these products are distributed as effectively as possible," added Shahebaz Khan.
He believes digital payments are becoming increasingly important as AI lowers barriers to entrepreneurship.
"Today, you often hear that, with the advent of AI, you can start a business with just a laptop from anywhere in the world. For innovators looking to launch a business—whether they're content creators, contractors, AI experts, or entrepreneurs building partnerships—digital payments can make a significant difference. We believe that when businesses adopt digital payments, they see higher customer traffic and gain access to a much broader customer base. They're able to expand beyond their local networks and reach customers globally.
Since it's now much easier to start a business, we also want it to be just as easy to adopt the payment solutions that help those businesses grow. That's where our focus is—to make onboarding digital payments as user-friendly as possible. I think all the solutions I mentioned earlier—such as lower-cost payment acceptance through Tap to Phone and Visa Accept—are particularly relevant to our CEMEA markets. As you've probably seen from the statistics, there are still around 90 million small businesses and merchants that do not yet accept digital payments. These solutions are designed to make it as simple and convenient as possible for them to onboard themselves," said Shahebaz Khan.
He went on to add that a similar trend is with Visa Direct.
"The CIS is one of the regions where adoption has been particularly strong. In many markets, we enable domestic peer-to-peer (P2P) payments tailored to local needs. We've also developed market-specific use cases. For example, in Ukraine, Kazakhstan, and Azerbaijan, we've introduced faster refunds, allowing customers who make a payment through Visa Direct rails to receive an instant refund directly to their card. This creates a unique and seamless customer experience. Whenever we enter a market, we first assess its specific needs. We then use platforms such as Visa Direct and Visa Accept to develop tailored payment experiences that meet the expectations of both consumers and merchants. We've spent many years building our global card payment network, and now we're investing the same level of thought and effort into building the most powerful remittance platform we can. Visa Direct connects nearly 12.5 billion endpoints across bank accounts, cards, and digital wallets. It supports transactions in 150 currencies across 195 markets, making it a highly scalable, secure, and trusted platform, built on the same principles as our payment network. With Visa Direct, customers and businesses can make seamless cross-border payments with the transparency, speed, and reliability they expect from Visa. Whether you're an individual or a business, Visa Direct enables you to make payments quickly and securely to clients, suppliers, and other recipients," Visa's senior vice-president explained.
When it comes to B2B payments in Azerbaijan specifically, he believes the capabilities we've introduced through Tap to Phone will see much wider adoption.
"We also expect more merchants to join the Visa Accept program through their issuing banks. As these solutions become more widely available—whether it's accepting payments through Tap to Phone or making payments via Visa Direct—we expect strong uptake from both consumers and merchants. These technologies will make it much easier for businesses to accept and make digital payments. We have leading-edge cybersecurity practices in place, and we work continuously to ensure our payment network remains resilient. We invest significant time, effort, and resources to keep the network secure. As AI becomes more widespread, we're also using AI ourselves to strengthen our defenses against potential cyber threats. It's extremely important for us to ensure our network remains secure and reliable, and we continue to invest heavily to achieve that.
We will continue working with our partners across the region to roll out the new capabilities we're developing. Our goal is to understand the nuances of each local market, adapt our products accordingly, and work hand in hand with our partners to ensure these solutions truly meet the needs of those markets. As market needs evolve, we'll continue collaborating closely with our partners to make any necessary adjustments and ensure our products remain relevant and effective," Shahebaz Khan concluded.
