A number of CIS countries, including Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan, dramatically increased the volume of bank cards after the withdrawal of major international payment systems Visa and MasterCard from the Russian market. The biggest increase in 2022 was recorded in Tajikistan, where the figure increased by almost 46% compared to the same period in 2021, according to RBC, citing statistics from central banks (CB) of the former Soviet Union.
Meanwhile, the data on the issue and the total number of cards in circulation in Armenia and Kyrgyzstan were available for the first nine months of 2022. The indicator for a longer period is not yet available. In other states, statistics of local central banks allowed to make calculations for all 12 months of last year, the article specifies.
"In 2022, the growth of bank cards in Tajikistan was 45.46%, Kyrgyzstan - 37.37%, Uzbekistan - 26.16%, Armenia - 18.65%, Belarus - 14.91%, Kazakhstan - 8.35% and Georgia - 4.62%. At the end of 2022 the total number of cards in circulation in Kazakhstan was 42.91 million units, Uzbekistan - 34.2 million, Belarus - 18.08 million, Georgia - 6.21 million, Tajikistan - 5.06 million, Armenia - 2.15 million, Kyrgyzstan - 1.89 million," the material says.
According to the head of the group on work with financial institutions of DRT Maxim Nalyutin, a significant increase in the number of issued payment cards in some CIS countries in 2022 was largely due to the influence of the situation on the Russian market. Russian citizens were moving to neighboring states, thereby increasing the turnover of cards in neighboring countries. At the same time, Russians could apply for Visa and MasterCard cards in the former Soviet Union to pay for international purchases and travel.
August 21 CEO of Vepay payment service Georgy Nikonov said that the Russians may have difficulty opening bank cards in the CIS countries remotely. After the departure of payment systems Visa and MasterCard from Russia, numerous intermediary firms began to appear in the financial market, which in the future may result in the risk of mass data leakage.
