Wednesday, December 5 2018 17:17

ArmInfo. In Armenia, the mobile application PayX has been launched within the framework of the project of creating a single infrastructure for mobile payments. The  project's initiators and co-founders are experienced banker Smbat  Nasibyan and technology expert Beniamin Tadevosyan.

The presentation took place on December 4 with the participation of representatives of  the financial sector, the national payment system Armenian Card, VISA  Int., Officials and the media."The ultimate goal of the PayX project  is to bring non-cash card turnover in Armenia up to 50-60% with  coverage of services not previously involved in the mobile payment  system. Today, this figure is still 10-20% of the total volume of  card transactions. As a comparison, I'll note in Russia, the share of  non-cash card payments is 55%, "saidS.Nasibyan in an interview with  ArmInfo correspondent.In his opinion, the development will go  quickly. "At the time of the project presentation, more than 100  points of trade and services are registered in PayX infrastructure.  The start is promising - 6 banks and 3 payment organizations already  act as partners. These are VTB Bank (Armenia), Ardshinbank,  Ameriabank, Araratbank, Evocabank, Unibank, ENP "Armenian Card", as  well as EasyPay and MobiDram payment systems.  Negotiations are  underway with other banks. Our immediate plans are to bring the  number of points involved to 2000-3000 and use PayX everywhere for  1-2 months to turn this technical task into reality.  enough h The  partner banks have connected their outlets to the application, which  will enable them to cover the entire market. We are fully prepared  for this process. Moreover, technical work is already underway to  connect a large number of trade and service outlets in the PayX  infrastructure, "S. Nasibyan said.He specified that the technical  capabilities of the Armenian Card Processing Center are used to make  payments. "And it is the presenceThe national payment system and a  single processing center helps us to quickly solve the task of  creating a unified mobile payment infrastructure PayX, "explained S.  Nasibyan, also saying that PayX also cooperates with ArmSoft and  L-Soft. And the project is supported by international payment system  VISA. "We offer tools that ensure accessibility to card payments at  those points where terminals and ATMs are not available. Our  innovative solutions will allow making payments in areas where  plastic transactions were impossible - transport, taxis, route taxis,  supermarkets, food facilities, restaurants, delivery. The only  question is how ready the public is to use this tool. This is very  important for the prospect of increasing the proportion of non-cash  payments in the total volume of transactions. For the full operation  of these tools, it is very important that there are two factors: a  systematic approach on the part of the government and the public  willingness to accept this tool. In other words, this is the task of  the civil will ", - noted S. Nasibyan.Regarding the attitude of  society to this kind of innovation, he noted two obstacles: First,  the reluctance to use new applications, and second, the ingrained  habit of acting in the old way. "Of course, this will not be able to  be managed immediately, but I hope that soon the combined forces will  succeed in taking this barrier," saidS.Nasibyan.The future plans of  the project initiators include the integration of PayX into banking  systems, trading accounting programs, and non-cash payments. It is  also planned to create an opportunity to provide Visa Push QR  payments in Armenia.  To the question why the PayX project started  from the financial system S.Nasibyan answered: "Of course, taking  into account such an important factor as technological risks, we  decided to deal with the most controlled area - financial, which  besides this also has a wide range of services provided using modern  technology. Cooperating with financial institutions, we are insured  against many risks. "Executive Director of the Armenian Card Ishkhan  Mkhitaryan said in his speech: "Technologies in the modern world are  developing very quickly and today making a payment for anyone without  leaving home through a mobile application. In the near future, using  similar PayX applications, we will be able to significantly increase  non-cash payments Armenian Card is open to projects of this kind, and  we are happy to welcome the launch of an initiative called PayX. "For  his part, Director of Retail Business of Ameriabank Arman Barseghyan  added: "Technologies have become an integral part of economic growth  and development, as well as a main aspect for any company in  organizing business processes. Through technologies, it is possible  to solve several problems at once, including non-cash payments to  reduce the shadow economy.  We are working with PayX, we intend to  support it and give the opportunity to develop this project.   "According to the Central Bank of Armenia, as of October 1, 2018, in  the total volume of plastic transactions, the share of non-cash  transactions increased over the past five years from 9.5% to 21.2%  (compared to the same period of 2013), making up 9 months from .g.  280.3 billion drams ($ 580.7 million).  The annual growth in the  volume of non-cash plastic transactions slowed to 47.8%, against the  acceleration of the pace for the first 9 months of 2017 to 2.5 times.  The quarterly dynamics of this indicator showed a slowdown in growth  from 22% in the second quarter to 14.3% in the third quarter, against  a deterioration in the dynamics for the third quarter of 2017 from a  27% increase to a 10.1% decline. The number of plastic cards in  Armenia increased by 1 October 2018 by 17.9% per annum - up to 1.928  million units, against a decline of 7.6% a year earlier. The annual  growth of the total volume of plastic transactions from 7.7% in the  first 9 months of 2017 to 24.5% in the first 9 months of 2018 has  sharply accelerated to this, reaching 1.4 trillion drams. Leadership  in terms of transaction volume is kept by Visa cards - 656.9 billion  drams for the first 9 months of this year, in second place is  MasterCard - 415.6 billion drams, in the third place is ArCa- 277  billion drams, and the remaining 23.2 billion drams are transactions  on other international cards (HSBC, AmEx, DC). And by the number of  cards, Visa leads - 739.7 thousand, local ArCa cards ranked second.-  612.9 thousand pieces, on the third - MasterCard - 531.8 thousand  pieces, and international cards (HSBC-cards, AmEx and Diners Club)  there are only 43.2 thousand pieces.