BAKU, Azerbaijan, June 29. The Central Bank of
Azerbaijan (CBA) plans to expand its open banking initiative into
Open Finance as part of the next phase of the country's financial
technology development, a senior central bank official said,
Trend's
correspondent reports from the event.


Speaking at the "Digital Financial Agenda of Azerbaijan" event
in Baku, Ramil Makhmudov, deputy director of the CBA's Payment
Systems and Products Development Department, said the development
of open banking remains one of the regulator's flagship fintech
projects.


"We have completed one strategic stage and are already working
on the next. Work will begin on expanding the project towards Open
Finance. Over this period, the Central Bank has implemented a
number of measures to modernize the payment system infrastructure.
Work was carried out to improve the software and hardware
infrastructure, enhance its resilience, and increase system
throughput.


The growth in transaction volumes is, on the one hand, a
positive indicator, but on the other, it places additional
responsibility on the Central Bank to ensure the smooth and
sustainable operation of the payment infrastructure. The main task
is to maintain the trust of payment service users," he said.


Makhmudov also noted that Azerbaijan introduced QR code payments
last year following amendments to national legislation.


"Today, more than 100,000 POS terminals in Azerbaijan already
support QR payments. This means a more accessible payment
instrument has appeared on the market, one that fintech companies
can actively use. The introduction of QR payments allows
entrepreneurs to accept payments at a lower cost, while providing
users with a payment instrument that fully complies with national
legislation and the needs of the domestic market.







The popularity of QR payments continues to grow worldwide,
including in countries with high bank card penetration.


From a financial perspective, the cost of this instrument is
minimal," he said.


According to Makhmudov, the next phase of the initiative will be
the rollout of static QR codes.


"First, we introduced dynamic QR codes to the market, and the
next step will be the introduction of static QR codes. This will
allow cashless payments to be accepted virtually anywhere in the
country, including the most remote settlements," he said.


He added that expanding the use of static QR codes is expected
to reduce reliance on cash and further promote cashless payments
across Azerbaijan.