Making digital payments a part of everyday life, Mastercard is leading the process of digitization of payments in Azerbaijan.

Mastercard told "APA-Economics" that the Cashless Azerbaijan program, which was launched a few years ago, has completely changed the financial landscape and added transparency and convenience to payment processes, as well as strength to the country's economy.

With increasing trust in technology, contactless payments have gained popularity in Azerbaijan.

Smartphones have become more than a means of communication and have become carriers of loyalty and bank cards as people use them to move from one place to another, attend various events, and order food.

Starting today, Mastercard holders in Azerbaijan will be able to add their cards to "Google Wallet" and pay with Android phones and smart wearable devices where contactless payments are accepted.

General Director of "Mastercard" for Turkey and Azerbaijan, Avshar Gurdal, said that after the launch of the "Cashless Azerbaijan" program, the number of payment cards in the country has doubled.

"We are determined to lead Azerbaijan to a cashless future.

Therefore, all our projects and plans serve to create infrastructure for a Digital and Cashless Future.

Since the beginning of the pandemic period, we have been implementing a number of projects in the country, which has led to an increase in the number of cashless payments and, as a result, an increase in the level of information and confidence among users.

Domestic POS usage increased from 2.6 billion manats to 11 billion manats, and the share of electronic commerce increased from 9 percent to 30 percent.

This growth rate means that e-commerce volumes have increased more than 10 times in 4 years.

If we compare the last 50 years, the next 5 years promise more changes.

Thus, in 2025, almost half of the country's population will use the mobile Internet, 85% of all Internet connections will be made through smartphones, and by 2025, the number of mobile phone users is expected to increase to one million.

In countries with high mobile contactless penetration, overall contactless payment adoption has reached 90 percent.

Let me say that 82% of POS devices in Azerbaijan accept contactless payments, and now we can say that smartphones are also POS devices.

As we started in Shamakhi, contactless cards and smartphones will become means of payment in public transport as well."

Jenny Cheng, Vice President and General Manager of Google Wallet, notes that this technology works with any Android phone or smart wearable device in a fast,

provides an easy and secure payment method.

“Tap to board a train, tap to pay in stores, easily access your ticket, store your loyalty cards and more.

Keep everything together, no matter where you go." Bringing GooglePay to Azerbaijan, Mastercard offers safer, more reliable special payment options for customers, that is, they can perform certain transactions such as handing their bank cards to others, physically touching buttons or exchanging cash. helps to get away.

GooglePay is available at Mastercard partner banks such as ABB, Kapital Bank, Bank Respublika, Unibank, Rabitabank and Pashabank.

These banks will offer benefits to Mastercard cardholders in exchange for signing up for GooglePay and making payments with their cards.

In addition, we as Mastercard offer benefits within the framework of our different campaigns at various merchants and brand stores across the country (full list of merchants and brand stores: https://mstr.cd/gpay)