Payments/AZ
Azerbaijan
ISO AZ · 3 schemes
Summary
- AniPay is the central QR code payment system
- IPS (Instant Payment System) since October 2020
- 5-20 seconds settlement time
- 1.88 million QR metro users (H1 2024)
- Financial Sector Development Strategy 2024-2026
Banking landscape
Central Bank
- Name: Central Bank of Azerbaijan (CBAR)
- Website: https://www.cbar.az/
- Role: Monetary policy, IPS operation
Major Banks (2024)
| Rank | Bank Name | Type | Digital Platform |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | International Bank of Azerbaijan | State | ABB Mobile |
| 2 | PASHA Bank | Private | PASHA Mobile |
| 3 | Kapital Bank | Private | BirBank |
| 4 | AccessBank | Private | AccessBank App |
| 5 | Rabitabank | Private | Rabitabank Mobile |
Market Structure
- CBAR: Operates IPS and AniPay
- 27% growth: Card transactions (2024 vs 2023)
- AZN 126 billion: Card transactions (2024)
- Open Banking: Platform development underway
Payment infrastructure
National Payment Systems
| System | Operator | Type | Status |
|---|---|---|---|
| IPS | CBAR | Instant payment | Active (2020) |
| AniPay | CBAR | QR payments | Active |
| AZIPS | CBAR | Interbank | Active |
| HÖP | CBAR | Low-value clearing | Active |
IPS Statistics
- Launched: October 1, 2020
- Settlement: 5-20 seconds
- Availability: 24/7/365
- Limit: AZN 40,000 per transaction
IPS Features
- Instant payments between individuals
- Business-to-business payments
- Government payments
- Phone number/email identifiers
QR code standards
AniPay QR
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Operator | Central Bank of Azerbaijan |
| System | Instant Payment System |
| Features | QR code payments |
| Access | Bank apps + AniPay portal |
AniPay Features
- Central QR payment platform
- In-store QR payments
- Payments within seconds
- Any time, any place
QR Adoption (2024)
- 1.88 million QR metro ticket users (H1 2024)
- 69% growth in July 2024 usage
- Metro QR payments popular
- Retail QR expanding
Payment Identifiers
- Phone number
- Email address
- QR code scanning
- IBAN (traditional)
Mobile payment apps
| App | Provider | QR | Features |
|---|---|---|---|
| AniPay | CBAR | Yes | Central platform |
| BirBank | Kapital Bank | Yes | Mobile banking |
| ABB Mobile | IBA | Yes | Banking |
| PASHA Mobile | PASHA Bank | Yes | Banking |
| Epoint | Epoint | Yes | mPOS |
AniPay Portal
- Central Bank operated
- IPS integration
- QR code payments
- Simple identifiers
2024 Innovations
- tap Xphone (July 2024): PASHA Bank NFC smartphone payments
- Epoint mPOS (Dec 2024): Smartphone payment acceptance
- Apple Pay/Google Pay support
- Contactless payments growth
Schemes
| Scheme | Type | Symbology | Adoption | Technical standard |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AniPay | QR Platform | CBAR | Active | anipay |
| IPS | Instant | CBAR | All banks | — |
| AZIPS | Interbank | CBAR | Active | — |
Sources
- MENAFN - Azerbaijan IPS QR Launch
- Transfi - Azerbaijan Payment Rails
- GlobalData - Azerbaijan Cards
- Payment Yearbooks - Azerbaijan 2025
- EzeePayment - Mobile Payment Apps
- CBAR - IPS Launch
- Caliber - Digital Breakthrough
- Lightspark - Azerbaijan Instant Payments
- EPC - QR Standardisation
- ARKA - ArcaQR (Regional Reference)
Full country report
Schemes
Standards
Primary · 1
Mentioned · 2