Mastercard Soon To Introduce AI-Based Service In Azerbaijan (Exclusive Interview)

(MENAFN- Trend News Agency) BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 10. Mastercard will soon present a new service on the AI platform in Azerbaijan, Mastercard's regional manager in Azerbaijan Emil Zeynalov, told Trend in an exclusive interview.

"Artificial intelligence is not only new but also a very popular and rapidly developing trend," Zeynalov noted.

The regional manager emphasized that Mastercard is integrating artificial intelligence into technologies, including those being introduced to the Azerbaijani market as well.

"In the near future, we plan to introduce new services based on artificial intelligence platforms to our users. These services will be aimed at combating cyber security, cybercrime, and fraud in card transactions. Our partners will be able to use scoring to assess the security of transactions and provide a high level of protection for cardholders," he added.

Zeynalov also noted that Mastercard is currently working on expanding transport projects in Azerbaijan.

"We have extensive experience in the transport sector and have successfully implemented projects in dozens of countries around the world, including Türkiye," Zeynalov noted.

According to him, customers can use Mastercard cards in various cities to pay fares on public transport such as buses and the metro.

"In 2021, we launched a successful transport project in Shamakhi in partnership with a local bank. Users have been able to pay their fares cashless for three years now, with significant benefits. We are also actively cooperating with state authorities and banking partners to expand this experience to other cities in Azerbaijan," he emphasized.

Speaking about cashless payments, the regional manager noted that the share of cashless payments in total consumer spending in Azerbaijan is about 30 percent.

"This indicates a significant potential for growth, and our strategy is to fight cash payments. Cash is our main competitor in this fight, both globally and in Azerbaijan. We see that the share of non-cash transactions is constantly increasing, and all our technologies, innovations, and new products and services are aimed at increasing this indicator," he said.

Answering a question regarding money transfers to mobile phone numbers, Zeynalov noted that this service will soon be introduced in the Azerbaijani market.

"We are cooperating with various participants, including regulators, to introduce this service in the Azerbaijani market in the near future. We hope to please our users, and I am sure it will happen soon. All users with access to our technology will be able to send money transfers both inside and outside Azerbaijan," he added.

In addition, the regional manager added that Mastercard already has a service that allows transferring funds between accounts beyond the card.

"We successfully integrated this service with several banks last year, and we plan to finalize cooperation with other financial institutions soon. This will provide our customers with the ability to transfer money not only between cards but also between a card and an account, as well as between accounts. Thus, we do not limit ourselves only to card-to-card transfers," he concluded.

In turn, in an exclusive interview with Trend, Mastercard's General Director for Azerbaijan and Türkiye Avshar Gürdal stated that Mastercard actively uses artificial intelligence in its activities.

"Our entire infrastructure is built on models that operate on artificial infrastructure," he noted.

Gürdal also pointed to the recent acquisition of Brighterion, a company that builds and develops models for business decisions using artificial intelligence.

"We are currently using it to detect fraud in the backbone of our network," he explained.

Regarding the transaction process, Gürdal stressed that Mastercard's system determines the nature of a transaction and decides whether to approve or reject it based on artificial intelligence analysis.

"We also generate assessments for issuers and acquirers to help them make transaction routing decisions," he added.

In addition, Gürdal highlighted the role of Mastercard Advisors, which works with its members to use artificial intelligence models for business decisions such as credit risk underwriting and cross-selling mechanisms.

"Artificial intelligence has long been an important part of our design and strategy," Gürdalsaid.

The CEO also expressed the company's intention to increase the number of projects, particularly with partner banks, in the coming months and years.

To note, Mastercard is an international payment system that provides financial services, including credit, debit, and prepaid cards. It enables its cardholders to make cashless payments at millions of points of sale around the world. Mastercard also provides technology solutions to banks, merchants, and other financial institutions. Mastercard cards are accepted in many countries and are used for a wide range of transactions, including in-store purchases, online transactions, cash withdrawals from ATMs, and other financial transactions.

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