(MENAFN- Trend News Agency)
BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 27. Visa is pulling out
all the stops to broaden the horizons and bring more Azerbaijani
banks into the fold of Apple Pay and google Pay, senior director
and regional manager of Visa in Azerbaijan Nurlan Hajiyev told
Trend in an
exclusive interview.
"Tokenization was introduced in Azerbaijan only in 2019. Still,
compared to many other nations-including those that adopted this
technology earlier-the country's tokenized payment penetration is
already far greater. We are pleased to report that, as of right
now, the most sophisticated and contemporary method-contactless-is
used in every fifth non-cash transaction in Azerbaijan (this
includes, for instance, payments done online in e-commerce or using
real cards). This is an amazing indicator," Hajiyev said.
Visa's senior director also reminded that 14 Azerbaijani banks
are currently certified to work with Apple Pay, while 15 are
certified to work with Google Pay.
"Azerbaijan has made a significant leap in this direction in a
short time: Apple Pay came to the country in 2021 and Google Pay in
2022. We certainly hope that the number of connected banks in
Azerbaijan will continue to grow. We are happy to cooperate with
various market players and are open to new partnerships," he
emphasized.
According to Hajiyev, shortly, the company is set on rolling out
a fresh project in Azerbaijan as a part of the She's Next Empowered
by Visa global initiative to lend a hand to women
entrepreneurs.
"The initiative hit the ground running in Azerbaijan in 2021 and
struck a chord with Azerbaijani women right off the bat. In the
same year, the first wave of the program was implemented. Over
1,000 Azerbaijani women attended educational webinars on various
topics useful for running a business. In 2022, we expanded the
initiative by holding the Visa Elevator Pitch Day contest.
More than 600 female entrepreneurs and women planning to start
their businesses applied to participate. The contest finals were
very touching, and the emotions were hard to describe: all
participants presented well-developed, important, and inspiring
projects.
Cash awards were given to two contest winners so that they could
grow their enterprises. Soon, we plan to launch the third wave of
the She's Next Empowered by Visa initiative in Azerbaijan," Hajiyev
said.
The regional manager of Visa in Azerbaijan also discussed
further business options offered by the organization.
“Today, She's Next digital community platform from Visa is
available to women entrepreneurs from the countries of Eastern and
South-Eastern Europe, Central Asia, and the Caucasus. This is an
excellent platform that unites entrepreneurs and women leaders and
provides them with tools for networking, sharing experiences, and
expanding their businesses internationally," he added.
According to the senior director and regional manager of Visa,
the platform has over 1,000 active users today.
"We have implemented a transport project in the country together
with Azerbaijan Railways, the International Bank of Azerbaijan, and
the Central Bank: we launched contactless payments on the Absheron
Ring Railway, on the Baku-Sumgayit route, which includes 14
stations. At each of them, passengers can pay the fare by payment
card, as well as by phone, watch, and payment ring," Visa's
regional manager shared.
Hajiyev also emphasized that transportation projects require the
combination and integration of various elements of the ecosystem,
and Visa is open to cooperation with all market players and is
pleased to continue to share experiences and achievements in this
area.
According to him, over the past five years, Visa has invested
more than $500 million in the development of artificial
intelligence and data infrastructure.
"Artificial intelligence nowadays is one of the most promising
industries and a global trend. Visa has been working on developing
and implementing artificial intelligence for 30 years, being one of
the pioneers in this field," the senior director said.
Besides, according to him, one of the main areas of application
of artificial intelligence is ensuring the security of the payment
ecosystem.
"Visa has deployed 100 different tools that use artificial
intelligence to enable safer money movement and prevent fraud
before it happens, among which I want to highlight the Visa
Advanced Authorization solution. Over the past five years, Visa has
invested $10 billion to develop systems to combat fraud and monitor
such transactions, including $500 million in artificial
intelligence technology. This has enabled us to prevent more than
$40 billion worth of fraud in 2023, almost double the amount in
2022," the regional manager added.
Hajiyev pointed out that Visa cooperates not only with banks,
fintechs, and financial institutions but also with regulatory
authorities and government agencies in Azerbaijan.
“We are proud of the successful partnerships that we have been
able to form: for example, with the National Olympic Committee of
Azerbaijan. As part of the upcoming Summer Olympic Games, Visa will
be one of the main partners of our Olympic team, which we are very
proud of. We believe that our athletes who will be in Paris this
year will be able to hit it out of the park and even raise the bar,
proving that Azerbaijan is a force to be reckoned with in the world
of sports,” he said.
According to Hajiyev, Visa also cooperates with the Education
Development Fund under the Ministry of Education and Science of
Azerbaijan.
“In March, during our Visa Cashless Forum, we announced our
partnership for the first time and are actively collaborating in
various areas, including social initiatives,” said the senior
director of Visa.
Additionally, he underscored that the Central Bank of Azerbaijan
is one of Visa's most significant partners in the local market.
“We have many joint projects and events with the Central Bank.
Thanks to our partnership, the Visa Token Service was introduced.
Also, with the support of the Central Bank, a transport project on
the railways was launched. Together with it, we worked on the
implementation of Tap to Phone, a technology that turns an Android
smartphone into a POS terminal.
We have recently implemented a program to improve financial
literacy among schoolchildren. We also conducted seminars for the
Central Bank on various areas, including payment security. Our
partnership with the Central Bank is only growing stronger, and we
are always happy to support initiatives for the development of
digital payments in Azerbaijan,” Hajiyev emphasized.
According to him, the Azerbaijani market has taken a giant leap
forward in the realm of digital payments.
"I will name just a few figures: over the past two years, the
number of cashless transactions on Visa cards in Azerbaijan has
increased 3.3 times, and their volume has increased 2.6 times," the
senior director said.
Also, he discussed the initiatives that Visa has executed in
collaboration with its stakeholders in the country.
"Among the initiatives we have implemented in Azerbaijan
recently is the update and relaunch of the Visa Pay City 2.0
platform. This platform offers privileges, discounts, and automated
bonuses from over a hundred partners. It is also focused on
tokenized transactions, which encourages the use of cashless
payments," Hajiyev said.
According to him, Visa also keeps its eyes peeled on the
development of travel directions.
"Visa premium cardholders have access to a plethora of services
and benefits that might enhance their travel experience. Our
collaboration with Sea Breeze, Azerbaijan's biggest resort, will
carry on in the summer since it has become an excellent tradition.
On resort property, Visa premium cardholders can expect pleasant
surprises, discounts, and other perks," Hajiyev emphasized.
Visa's regional manager in Azerbaijan also added that to support
small and medium-sized businesses, Visa, together with Kapital
Bank, introduced Tap to Phone technology for the first time.
"With this innovation, Android-powered phones with NFC modules
may function as point-of-sale terminals, doing away with the
necessity to purchase and set up cumbersome cash register hardware.
Our number one goal has always been and will always be educating
SMEs on the benefits of accepting digital payments," he
concluded.
To note, Visa (NYSE: V) is a global leader in the digital
payments industry. Visa processes payment transactions between
consumers, businesses, and financial and government institutions in
more than 200 countries and territories. Visa's mission is to unite
the world through an innovative, convenient, reliable, and secure
payment network to promote consumer well-being and business and
economic prosperity.
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