BAKU, Azerbaijan, October 9. The Baku Fintech Forum 2025 took place, Trend reports.
The event was organized by the Azerbaijan Fintech Association (AzFina) in conjunction with the Central Bank of the Republic of Azerbaijan and the Association of Banks of Azerbaijan.
Guests from many countries around the world were invited to the forum. Representatives of international financial institutions, fintech companies, banks, and other financial organizations took part in the event.
At the event, local and international experts discussed innovations introduced in the fintech sector in recent years.
Participants shared their forecasts for the fintech sector and exchanged views on its impact on the financial sector.
The event featured panel discussions on various topics, such as open banking, digital payments, artificial intelligence, fraud prevention, and cybersecurity, as well as the signing of partnership agreements.
Vusal Khalilov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBA), gave a speech and reported that the turnover of licensed organizations in the payment sector this year exceeded 38.8 billion manat ($22.8 billion).
“There are 18 electronic money organizations, 8 payment organizations, and 2 operators operating in Azerbaijan. The turnover of licensed organizations in the payment sector this year exceeded 38.8 billion manats,” V. Khalilov emphasized.
“By the middle of this year, the monthly turnover on cards reached 10 billion manats. This is an example of the country's transition to cashless payments. We are seeing growth in the instant payment system. Over the past year, it has grown by 10%. In addition, work is underway in our country to standardize QR payments,” Khalilov noted.
Zakir Nuriyev, Chairman of the Azerbaijan Banks Association (ABA), emphasized that we must take international trends in fintech into account in our system. The greatest burden here falls on improving the legislative framework.
As an example, he noted that there is a requirement for organizations issuing electronic money to keep funds in several banks:
“At the same time, this requirement also applies to other participants in the financial sector. In particular, insurance companies are required to keep their funds in different banks. In the future, the introduction of such a requirement may also be relevant for fintech.”
Yulia Salehova, Deputy Chair of the Association of Payment Organizations of Kazakhstan, in turn, emphasized that Kazakhstan intends to exchange experience with Azerbaijan on the “Know Your Customer” (E-KYC) system.
“I would like to see not only banks but also payment service providers join the Know Your Customer (E-KYC) system. I am a little disappointed that this system is not yet fully operational in Kazakhstan. However, I hope that in the future we will be able to share this experience with Azerbaijan on a mutual basis," Salehova emphasized.