Azernews.Az

BAKU – The International Bank of Azerbaijan (IBA), the country’s leading bank, continues expanding the scope of its electronic banking services.

Payments for utilities and telecommunication fees are among the most widely used e-banking services. Telecommunications company Connect has recently become one of the companies enabling its customers to make such payments through IBA’s plastic cards, the bank’s spokesman Rauf Aghayev said.

Thus, e-banking services now cover over ten companies, including cellular operators Azercell, Bakcell and Nar Mobile, BakiElektrikShebeke power supply company, Internet service providers Azeronline and Elcell, and the International Insurance Company.

From now onward, Connect clients may pay internet and cable television fees by using IBA cards at any of the bank’s ATMs and information kiosks, as well as through Internet Banking and MobileBank systems.

According to the IBA spokesman, the Electronic Banking service is enjoying ever-growing demand. In 2007, the total number of operations performed was 243,800 for the amount of 4.88 million manats ($6.1 million). In 2008, 366,300 transactions were carried out (33.4% growth) and their total amount increased to 7.97m manats (38.8% growth). The positive dynamics has been maintained in 2009, as 498,700 transactions worth 13.6m manats ($17m) were carried out. In the first half of 2010, the figures were over 264,000 and 8.3m manats (over $10.3m) respectively.