Opening bank accounts online in Azerbaijan under discussion
By Leman Mammadova
The opening of bank accounts online is under discussion in Azerbaijan, which is envisaged by the new "Order of Opening Accounts", Asim Zulfugarov, Acting Deputy Chairman of the Board of the Financial Markets Supervisory Authority of Azerbaijan (FIMSA), said.
Zulfugarov made the remarks at the event entitled “With digitalization to reality” in Baku, organized by the E-Gov Development Center, Trend reports on February 19.
FIMSA is currently working on a number of documents that will help the development of digitalization in the country’s financial sector. In particular, FIMSA is working on the bill "On payment services", which will also allow creating e-money in the country.
“The issue of digitalization of financial services is very important for FIMSA,” Zulfugarov added. “This is also envisaged in the Strategic Road Map for the Development of Financial Services, approved in late 2016.”
Speaking about the current situation, Zulfugarov stressed that 70 percent of e-transactions with accounts are carried out in Europe. Moreover, 24 percent accounted for the share of e-transactions on current accounts in Azerbaijan in 2018, which is twofold more than in 2017.
Digitalization is an important component of the dynamics of the global economy’s development. The full transition to non-cash settlements contributes to the growth of financial inclusiveness.
Movement towards a “digital economy” is officially one of the priorities of financial regulators in a number of countries, both developed and developing.
The development of digital sales channels, internet and mobile banking in Azerbaijan is envisaged in the Strategic Road Map for the Development of Financial Services.
It is expected that in 2020, as a result of digitalization, Azerbaijan’s GDP will increase by 135 million manats. Digitalization will make it possible to increase the total income of banks by 20 percent in 2020.
Banks are actively developing digitalization of banking services, and the Central Bank launched the first blockchain project in the country.
Blockchain is a way of storing data, or a digital registry of transactions, deals, and contracts. Its main difference and undeniable advantage is that this registry is not stored in one place, but distributed among several thousand computers around the world.
The principle of operation of the blockchain is quite simple - digital records are combined into "blocks", which are then linked cryptologically and chronologically into a "chain" with the help of complex mathematical algorithms. Each block is linked to the previous one and contains a set of records. New blocks are always added at the end of the chain.
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