Baku, Fineko/abc.az. The boom of e-commerce and non-cash payments, as always, turned to the biggest fraud and deception of consumers.

The U.S. media report that international payment systems Visa and MasterCard and major U.S. banks have agreed to pay at least $6 billion to settle litigation in which they were accused of conspiring to overestimate the commission charged from retailers for paying for purchases with credit cards. The payment systems will pay a penalty and reduce the fees so that retailers could receive compensation.

The amount of commission in the U.S. is today 3.75% on each purchase with the card.

Azerbaijan is just trying to transfer trade operations to non-cash settlements with help of plastic cards, but the problem of the commission is actual in the country as well. Even the State Social Protection Fund points to the excessive commission (2%) taken for withdrawing money from retirement cards. Trade outlets try simply to ignore non-cash payments. At the same time, it is not obvious that out-of-court agreement in the U.S. will have a positive impact on clients of Visa and MasterCard in Azerbaijan.

Russia tries to solve the problem by creating a national payment system, an idea which was proposed in Azerbaijan in 1999. Then the current Central Bank of Azerbaijan refused to establish a national payment system based on processing company AzeriCard, created its own processing center Millikart, transferred later to commercial banks.

In turn, a number of banks created their processing systems, but in 2012 the reverse process started. Texkart (processing center of Texnikabank) is almost eliminated, and its cards were transferred to service in AzeriCard. The recent withdrawal of the license from Royal Bank will lead to closure of its processing center. As a result, the country will number three processing centres- AzeriCard, Millikart and processing center of Kapital Bank. This will help return to the establishment of a national payment system of card payments.

Today it is considered to be as two-level, in which a system of utility (KOMIS) and state payments created by the Central Bank could be at the top, and AzeriCard, Millikart and processing center of Kapital Bank at the second level (as providers). All banks and retailers would have equal access to the system, and every citizen could expect a fair attitude towards him. The national system will enable to reduce the internal commissions and give to each citizen of the country a individual unified payment card, which was offered in 1999. This can be done is, for example, through the State Agency for Community Services & Social Innovations under the Azerbaijani President, founded on last Friday.

Given the announced goal of increasing population up to 20 million people, a project of creation of national payment system of card payments and issue of product "Azerbaijani civil card" (let’s call it so) will be more than profitable.

16.07.2012 09:02