PASHA Bank introduces contactless payment technology to Azerbaijan

PASHA Bank, one of Azerbaijan's leading banks, is the first bank in the country to introduce the system of acquiring and issuing of contactless payment cards from two leading payment systems - Visa and MasterCard.

Contactless payment technology enables prompt, convenient and safe mobile (smartphone-based) payments in all spheres of retail trading. When making small payments, a contactless card can simply be held to the reader to pay for goods, without the need to enter a PIN code. Contactless payments are just as secure as other non-cash methods, as the advanced technology that underpins chip and PIN is also used for contactless cards. This technology is widely used in the USA and Europe.

This innovative technology introduced to Azerbaijan by PASHA Bank will help to raise the number of transactions made via the country's POS terminals, thus increasing service companies' non-cash turnover. Considering that this technology is intended to make small payments, the primary aim is to assist retailers with improving their customer service.

Emil Hajiyev, Chief Operating Officer and Executive Board Member of PASHA Bank, commented: "Our Bank always looking to introduce new technologies to the market and we completely support both Government and non-government initiatives to increase the number of non-cash operations in the country and to extend the banking services available to companies and individual customers.

We are initially planning to roll-out this technology in Baku's fast-food restaurants. Contactless payment technology is a more efficient form of non-cash payment, as it eliminates the need to enter the payment amount on both the cashpoint and POS terminal."