Azernews.Az

Qabil Ashirov

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The Azerbaijan Deposit Insurance Fund (ADIF) has introduced new online payment options for citizens as part of its digitalisation strategy and is considering using the AniPay platform to provide compensation payments in the future.

AzerNEWS reports via Azertag that Aygun Bagiyeva, Deputy Director of the ADIF's Finance Department, made the announcement at the Dialogue and Cooperation Forum held to mark National Press Day.

She said the fund was implementing a range of projects to expand its digital services.

"Citizens can now make payments online that previously could only be made in person. Payments can be made through both payment terminals and the fund's official website," Bagiyeva said.

She explained that when an insured event occurs, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan first sends an official notification to the ADIF. The fund then publishes an initial official announcement on its website and through the media, after which an agent bank is appointed and the compensation process begins.

According to Bagiyeva, depositors have one year from the date of the initial official announcement to apply for compensation. Under certain circumstances stipulated by law, however, the deadline can be extended for up to five years.

She said the deadline could be extended if a depositor was abroad for a year, was ill or had another valid reason recognised by law. After the maximum five-year period expires, the depositor's right to receive compensation for an insured deposit is lost, and the funds are paid according to the general rules applicable to uninsured deposits.

Speaking at the forum, Azer Amirov, Director of the ADIF's Legal Department, said the fund was considering integrating with the AniPay platform to make compensation payments faster.

Once the mechanism is introduced, compensation could be transferred to citizens' bank accounts in real time, he said.

"Technical and legal preparations for integration with electronic payment systems are currently under way. The pace of digitalisation, artificial intelligence and the development of electronic services is in some cases outpacing existing legislative initiatives, which creates certain challenges when integrating with new systems," Amirov said.

He added that work was continuing to enable compensation payments through electronic payment systems. At present, citizens can make payments through Azerpost, MilliON and other payment systems by entering their personal identification number (FIN).

Amirov also noted that technical issues could occasionally arise when integrating systems during the liquidation of banks. In some cases, discrepancies inherited from previous years are identified, including instances where the same individual has been assigned multiple account identification codes.

He said such cases had become significantly less common in recent years. Typically, some difficulties in processing payments may occur during the first two or three days following the liquidation of a bank, but the time required to resolve such issues has been significantly reduced compared with previous years.

Amirov added that during the liquidation of Muganbank, all payment systems had been fully restored and payments were being accepted by the third day, describing this as an important improvement in digital integration.