Azerbaijan, Baku, April 13 (Trend, N. Ismailova)
In 2011, Texnika Bank, a bank of Azerbaijan, will prioritize implementing plastic cards-related projects with the objective to increase the number of plastic cards by 200 percent before the end of the year, Texnika Bank Board Chairman Samir Huseynov reported Wednesday.
"The bank issued 50,000 plastic cards over the past year; this year we plan to increase the number by 100,000 up 150,000", Huseynov said.
According to him, card business development will be a priority for the bank in 2011: negotiations with the payment systems VISA Inc. and MasterCard are already underway.
"The bank has already reduced plastic card tariffs considerably; however, we think the existing tariffs established by local banks still remain high and that banks should continue work to reduce tariffs to get an increase of plastic card turnover. This can be stimulated through issuing of multifunctional cards", he noted.
According to Huseynov, the bank has started implementing project PayPass jointly with MasterCard, which will allow using the bank's cards as a means of either general payment or bus fare payment. The distinction of this technology from the traditional one is that there is no need in rolling a card through POS-terminal, entering PIN-code or signing cheque. To make payment, the holder of a PayPass card only needs to get the card touch POS-terminal pad. Payment occurs at once. According to Huseynov, the bank plans to complete the launch of this system within six month.
Processing center Texkart was established by Azerbaijan's Texnika Bank in 2007. At the initial stage, the center provides its services to Texnika Bank only but is expected to start providing services to other banks, too, in future. The center's statutory capital is equivalent to 1 million manat.
Texnika Bank has been operational in Azerbaijan since 1993 and remained 100% Azerbaijan-owned bank until 2007. Currently, the bank's majority stockholder is the World Wines, which holds 75 percent of its stock. Etibar Aliyev, Chairman of the bank's Observation Board, holds 15 percent, and US's Kazimir Investment Caspian Fund holds 10 percent of the stock.
The official rate on April 13 is 0.792 AZN/USD.