BAKU, Azerbaijan, Feb.11
By Sadraddin Aghjayev – Trend:
A bank card plays the role of a physical key to its holder’s bank account, and the appearance of an electronic wallet or digital issue with all the functions of the card makes use of the physical bank card unnecessary, Samir Nasibov, Director General of PAYSIS, the legal owner of the E-PUL payment system, told Trend on Feb.11.
According to Nasibov, people eventually will realize this and completely refuse from using this element of the payment ecosystem.
"The E-Pul payment system together with Master Card and the partner Bank of Baku in 2018 planned the physical issue of the country's first cards linked to the e-wallet account, and even ordered blanks for printing, but, unfortunately, the project failed," he added.
Nasibov said that presently E-Pul system is aimed at developing digital card issuance.
"We also plan to use the ‘Cash by code’ service or ‘PayPass/payWave’ technologies to cash out funds at ATMs. Everything related to payment for services and goods through POS terminals, this functionality will be implemented through the NFC technology, which we plan to implement by our loyalty program, which will strengthen our competitiveness in the local market," he noted.
Besides, the director-general pointed out that the key advantage of electronic money is that owing to it, the process of interaction between market participants has become more transparent.
"The e-wallet is tied to the user's personal mobile number. A few clicks are enough to carry out the operation. Even paying with a bank card may seem complicated against the background of an e-wallet,” he further said. “There is no need to pay for service - you can use the account absolutely free of charge: there is no need to reissue documents, change expired cards or close an account if it is no longer needed.”
“Money transfer from wallet to the wallet is carried out instantly: the amount is instantly reflected in the history of transactions. Using an electronic wallet, you can optimize other processes," also added Nasibov.
At the same time, he stressed the disadvantages of e-wallets in Azerbaijan.
"So far, not all shops are ready to accept this method of payment for purchases. In addition, in order to use the wallet, there must be Internet access, for someone it may be a disadvantage that in all payment systems, to receive a full range of services the system will require you to enter your personal data in order to be identified,” he clarified. “This is due to the legislation, according to which, the maximum amount of the balance of a prepaid card of a user who didn’t pass identification is 100 manat ($58.8) or the equivalent in currency, the annual turnover should not exceed 1,000 manat ($588.2) or the equivalent in foreign currency.”
In addition, he noted that despite the fact that the system has the ability to create a foreign currency wallet, 95 percent of transactions are carried out in the Azerbaijani manat currency.
"Whatever the currency is used, in the end, the financial organization still earns, since the wallet holder bears the costs for the conversion. In the near future, we don’t plan to add new foreign currencies into the system," Nasibov said.
Speaking about the promotion of cashback services by banks, he noted that there is also a loyalty program in the E-Pul virtual wallet.
"From each payment, we return up to 0.7 percent in the form of bonuses, which users can convert into real payments or exchange for goods sold at prices close to wholesale in the marketplace of our application. The increase in the country's cashless turnover whitens the economy, and, as a result, only the end consumer earns from this," summed up the expert.
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