TODAY.AZ / Business

Banking system comes to fingertips in Azerbaijan

27 August 2014 [12:12] - TODAY.AZ
By AzerNews

The days of traditional banking system are expected to come to an end in Azerbaijan in the near future.

Despite the fact that Azerbaijan is a country of traditional banking system, experts believe that mobile banking will rule the market by 2030.

Mobile banking is rapidly developing around the world at present, which is no wonder, as the service does more good than harm.

Mobile banking allows manage plastic credit card account in real time mode around the clock.

Checking the balance, generating reports on the transactions, paying utility bills, phone calls, Internet services, as well as transferring money from card to card, paying for online purchases, receiving SMS notification of each transaction and blocking the card are among other services of the system.

The advantages of such banking are obvious: it is much cheaper and functional, as the customer does not need to visit the bank and waste time in queue.

Today, most of the major banks in Azerbaijan offer this service.

Despite the fact that the service is well developed in Europe, in Azerbaijan, a country with the mobile phone penetration rate of 110 percent, it is not yet well-developed. One of the reasons for this is that at this stage, bank customers in Azerbaijan cannot still completely trust the new technology, and prefer to conduct banking operations in traditional way by going to bank.

However, the service is quite safe and securely protected as banks are paying enough attention to ensure the reliability and security of their services.

The Chairman of the Center for Economic and Social Development, Vugar Bayramov told local press "it is expected that by 2030, no bank in Azerbaijan use traditional banking system any further."

The expert at the Support for Economic Initiatives Public Union Samir Aliyev is not so optimistic. He told local press that traditional banking system continues its existence in the whole world and Azerbaijan. He noted that internet and mobile banking would keep on developing in the country.

"Banks will continue their activities. Taking into account development of internet banking around the world, there is no further need to the regional branches. So, their closing may be a first step," he said.

However, Azerbaijan does not have many bank branches, Aliyev went on saying. In this regard, one can hardly expect their closure in the near future. "It is more likely that banks will eventually close their branches in the regions of the country and will create large regional offices."

The expert believes that local banks will follow this way in the next 5-10 years.
URL: http://www.today.az/news/business/136488.html

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