Tashkent, Uzbekistan (UzDaily.com) -- In order to ensure the reliable and efficient operation of the national payment system, special attention is paid to the development of payment infrastructure, the use of digital technologies and innovations in the provision of payment services, as well as strengthening the competitive environment.

Activity of payment systems of the Central Bank

The Interbank Payment System of the Central Bank, the Clearing Settlement System and the Instant Payment System, which are the main links of the national payment system, ensured stable and uninterrupted operation in 2022.

In particular, in 2022, the volume of transactions through the interbank payment system of the Central Bank increased by 1.5 times compared to the previous year and amounted to 4.13 trillion soums.

The increase in the volume of transactions of the Interbank Payment System is explained by the growth of deposit transactions of the Central Bank with commercial banks, the volume of clearing transactions in other payment systems, as well as transactions with the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance and the growth of economic activity of business entities.

The leaders in terms of the volume of transactions carried out through the Interbank Payment System of the Central Bank in the reporting year were Kapitalbank (10%), Ipoteka Bank (9%), National Bank (9%), as well as Trustbank, Uzpromstroybank and Khalq Bank with a share of 7% each.

When developing the Clearing Settlement System of the Central Bank, attention was paid to expanding the list of payment services, ensuring the introduction of convenient services for the population and service providers.

As a result, the number of organizations (service providers) accepting payments through the Clearing Settlement System of the Central Bank increased to 46 in 2022.

In 2022, the volume of payments made through the Clearing Settlement System increased 1.6 times compared to 2021 and amounted to 58.7 trillion soums.

According to available statistics, Agrobank (16%), Aloqabank (15%), Asaka Bank (13%) and Ipoteka Bank (8%) topped the list of banks leading in terms of the volume of transactions carried out through the Clearing Settlement System.

During the reporting year, special attention was paid to the stable and uninterrupted operation of the Instant Payment System of the Central Bank, which carries out payment transactions for legal entities and individual entrepreneurs around the clock 24/7.

Today, almost all commercial banks in the country are connected to the instant payment system, and all customers working through remote service systems have full access to this system.

In 2022, the volume of transactions through this system increased by 1.4 times compared to 2021 and amounted to 446.4 trillion soums. The number of operations increased by 1.4 times and amounted to 17.6 million units. At the same time, the volume of budget payments to the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance increased by almost 1.8 times compared to 2021 and amounted to 21.6 trillion soums.

In terms of the volume of transactions made through this system in the afternoon and evening sessions, the share of payments made from 09:00 to 17:00 decreased from 93% in 2021 to 89% in 2022, respectively, the share of transactions made from 17:00 until 09:00, increased from 7% to 11%.

It should be noted that 17 percent of the total number of transactions made through this system are transactions made in the evening/night, which is 3 percent more than in 2021. In the reporting year 2022, the number of evening/night transactions through the Instant Payment System of the Central Bank increased by 1.9 times compared to 2021 and exceeded 3.1 million units, while the volume of completed transactions increased by 2.3 times and amounted to 48.3 trillion soums. This indicates that during 2022, the business was more active in making payments in the evening/night period.

According to statistics, 79% (353.4 trillion soums) of payments through this system falls on ten banks, and the remaining 21% (92.9 trillion soums) on all other banks. Of this, payments from the National Bank - 17% (74 trillion soums), Uzpromstroybank - 15% (65 trillion soums), Asaka Bank - 9% (40.7 trillion soums), Uzumbank - 8% (35.4 trillion soums), Hamkorbank - 7% (32.9 trillion soums), Orient Finance - 6 percent (26.2 trillion soums), Trustbank - 5 percent (22.8 trillion soums).

Functioning of retail payment systems based on bank cards

In 2022, great attention was paid to creating favorable conditions for cashless payments, expanding the infrastructure of retail payment systems based on bank cards, as well as access to the existing infrastructure.

As a result of increasing the level of financial literacy of the population and the widespread promotion of remote banking services for the population and enterprises, the number of issued bank cards increased from 27.1 million units in 2021 to 34.2 million units. in 2022.

In the reporting year, the number of payment terminals installed at entities operating in the field of retail trade and paid services amounted to more than 434 thousand units. In turn, the volume of payments received through payment terminals increased by 66.5 trillion compared to 2021. soum and amounted to 177.7 trillion. soum in the reporting year.

In order to further develop competition in the payment systems market, as well as a result of the measures taken to further develop the functionality, infrastructure and increase the popularity of the retail payment system, the share of payments made through HUMO terminals increased from 27% in 2021 to 36% in 2022.

In addition, the Central Bank concluded a number of agreements in order to expand international cooperation in the field of payment systems. Of particular note are the memorandums of understanding signed between the Central Bank and international payment systems.

At the same time, as part of the development of international cooperation and interaction, national retail payment systems paid special attention to further deepening integration with such international payment systems as VISA, MasterCard and UnionPay International.

In the reporting year, an agreement was signed between the National Interbank Processing Center and TBC Bank Uzbekistan to launch a project for servicing HUMO cards in Georgia. Thanks to this project, customers of a commercial bank can pay or withdraw cash from ATMs of the TBC network in any available currency using a HUMO soum card.

In cooperation with international payment systems (VISA, Mastercard, UnionPay and MIR), commercial banks continued to develop a new type of service for issuing co-badged bank cards for residents, which allows users to make payments through the infrastructure of national and foreign payment systems. As of 1 January 2023, over 1.7 million co-badged bank cards have been issued.

The development of the retail payment services market has also attracted the attention of the payment systems of some countries, which are interested in cooperation in the development of the card payment systems market, which opens up the prospect of attracting innovative solutions to this area.

To create convenience for users of payment services, the number of ATMs and infokiosks installed in the banking infrastructure, in tourist and other public places increased by 57% and, as of 1 January 2023, amounted to more than 20.4 thousand units

As a result of work to develop the functionality, infrastructure and popularity of the HUMO national payment system, the share of transactions in HUMO ATMs in the total volume of transactions made through ATMs increased from 35% in 2021 to 49% in the reporting year.

Support for financial technologies and innovations in the payment services market

As part of the work of the Central Bank to develop the national payment system and increase the popularity of financial services, special attention is paid to the automation of banking business processes and the provision of services through digital channels.

In particular, the number of users of remote servicing of bank accounts increased by 1.5 times and reached 30 million as of 1 January 2023. At the same time, 1.2 million users are business entities, and the number of individuals using remote management systems for bank cards and bank deposit accounts amounted to 28.8 million.

Thanks to the availability of access to all major banking services for individuals through the mobile applications of banks, the volume of remote online transactions reached 145.8 trillion soums.

At the same time, through mobile applications, online deposits made through mobile applications amounted to 21.9 trillion soums, conversion operations - 20.9 trillion soums, loan repayment - 8.2 trillion soums, online microloans - 5.6 trillion soums.

In order to further increase the coverage of contactless payments (QR codes and NFC technologies), the Central Bank, together with commercial banks, pays special attention to expanding the scope of contactless payments in the infrastructure of payment systems, primarily in the field of trade and services (retail trade and points paid services, catering facilities, delivery services, self-employed, etc.). As a result of these initiatives, measures were taken to create conditions for suppliers of goods and services to accept payments through QR codes and NFC technologies.

The QR-online system is gaining popularity, which was launched to make instant payments using QR codes using mobile applications for goods and services at the expense of a bank card without the direct use of a bank card and a payment terminal.

The number of QR codes provided to businesses by the information system increased by only 8 thousand and amounted to 99 thousand units. Despite this, the volume of transactions made through this system increased from 14.9 billion soums in 2021 to 191.6 billion soums in 2022, and the number increased by 4.2 times and reached 63.2 thousand units.

At the same time, as part of the expansion of contactless payment technology, the service of making payments at points of sale and paid services without the direct use of a bank card through the HUMO PAY program (via NFC smartphone devices) was integrated into mobile applications of 21 banks.

The Tap-to-phone system, introduced as part of the development of contactless payment services, is used by more than 2.3 thousand entities as an alternative payment tool to a POS terminal, which allows entities to accept payments through the smartphone’s NFC system.

In 2022, the volume of transactions using NFC technology increased by 2.1 times compared to 2021 and reached 25.5 trillion soums.

In the reporting year, work was continued to popularize the use of the digital identification mechanism (Face ID) integrated into mobile applications. At the end of the reporting period, this technology was implemented by 26 commercial banks and 13 payment organizations.

This, in turn, significantly expanded the ability of customers to remotely use banking and payment services (opening a bank account, opening an electronic wallet, microloans, receiving funds through international money transfers) without directly visiting bank branches or payment organizations.

It is worth noting that the biometric identification system implemented in our republic won the "project of the year" competition out of 434 projects submitted from the CIS countries at the "Global CIO" (Community of Digital Transformation Leaders) ceremony held on 26 January 2023 in Moscow.

Competitive environment in the payment services market

Modern financial technologies and innovative solutions are rapidly being introduced into the field of payment services, causing the emergence of new participants in the payment services market.

In order to strengthen the competitive environment by creating broad and equal opportunities for new participants in the payment services market, in the reporting year, the Central Bank issued licenses to 15 payment organizations to operate. At the end of 2022, the total number of licenses of the payment organization reached 47.

The great interest in the market of non-cash payments on the part of entrepreneurs is explained by favorable and equal conditions for market participants, as well as the high growth rate of demand for the services of not only commercial banks, but also for services provided by non-bank payment organizations. This means that in the payment services market there is a growing demand for the services of not only commercial banks providing payment services, but also non-banking payment organizations.

As a result, in 2022, payment organizations carried out transactions in the amount of 116 trillion soums, which is 2.1 times more than in 2021.

Of these, using the services of payment organizations, individuals made payments for the services of mobile operators - 10.5 trillion soums, utilities - 8.9 trillion soums, public services - 6.1 trillion soums, for loan payments - 3.6 trillion soums.

The introduction of electronic money systems in the payment services market laid the foundation for the further development of cashless payments and additional opportunities for users of payment services. The popularity of electronic money is growing due to a number of advantages, such as the ability to quickly manage funds, the absence of the need to open a bank account and the transparency of transactions.

As of 1 January 2023, 15 electronic money systems were included in the register of electronic money systems of the Central Bank, the number of electronic wallets opened in these systems amounted to 8.4 million units.

In the reporting year, the number of transactions with electronic money increased by 1.8 times compared to 2021 and amounted to 11.6 million units. The volume of transactions increased 1.6 times to 273.2 billion soums.

It should be noted that 92% of the transactions of electronic wallet holders were transferred as payment for certain goods (services, works) to the electronic wallets of legal entities that are participants in electronic money systems, and 8% were carried out to transfer money to electronic wallets of individuals.

Of payments by electronic money, 28% were for the services of mobile operators, 10% were utilities, 10% were payments in games and social networks, 9% were for replenishing foreign electronic wallets, 5% were local payments and other services.