BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 24. A number of banks in Azerbaijan have started imposing restrictions on customers obtaining more than one debit card of the same category and currency, and the relevant instructions were sent to the banks, two independent sources in the banking market told Trend.
According to the information, in some banks, the new rule has already been in effect since August 1 of this year, while other banks are scheduled to implement the same restriction starting October 1.
Specifically, if a customer already holds an active debit card, they will not be able to order another debit card in the same currency. However, there is no restriction on obtaining a second debit card in a different currency.
New limits on cash-in transactions for payment instruments have also been implemented in Azerbaijan as of August 1. Under the current rules, a maximum of five cash-in transactions per day is permitted for each payment instrument, and a monthly cash-in limit of 20,000 manat ($11,760) has been established. These restrictions don’t apply to cash withdrawal transactions.
Based on the Central Bank of Azerbaijan’s data as of the end of July, the number of payment cards in circulation through the banking system and Azerpost LLC increased by 8.9%, reaching 22.78 million cards. The number of debit cards increased by 10.5%, while the number of credit cards decreased by 4.6%. Since the beginning of the year, the volume of domestic non-cash transactions has increased by 13.9% compared to the same period last year. In July 2026, the volume of domestic non-cash payments made via cards totaled 9.7 billion manat ($5.7 billion). Of the total volume of non-cash payments, 8.45 billion manat ($4.9 billion) was attributed to e-commerce, 1.255 billion manat ($740 million) to POS terminals, and 2 million manat ($1.1 million) to transactions via self-service terminals and ATMs. Since the beginning of the year, the volume of domestic non-cash transactions using payment cards has accounted for 69.8% of the total volume of domestic card transactions.
Dynamic growth is being observed in the payment service networks of banks and Azerpost LLC. Specifically, compared to the end of July last year, the number of ATMs has increased by 4.4%, and the number of POS terminals by 12.1%.
