According to the data collected by the end of the first quarter, the number of payment cards issued by commercial banks in Georgia made 9.3 mln. Compared to the previous quarter, the number of issued cards grew by 1% and compared to the similar period of the previous year – by 11%.
In the total number of cards, the share of credit cards is 7%.
44% of the issued cards belong to Master Card, VISA comes next with 31% and then Local with 18%. The share of UPI in the card system is 6%, and of AmEx – 1%.
According to the information, provided by the National Bank of Georgia, in the II quarter of 2017, total of 44.2 mln operations were performed with Georgian payment cards in Georgia and beyond its borders, which, in terms of money, amounted to 4,6 bln GEL. 95% of the number of operations and 93% of the money was within the country and, accordingly, 4% and 7% – beyond its borders.
The share of the number of payment operations performed at trade/service sites made 65% of the total of conducted transactions and the share of money was 22%.
In total, transactions performed with Georgian payment cards has increased by 17% in terms of number and by 14% in terms of money, compared to the rates of the previous quarter. Compared to the II quarter of 2016, transactions performed by means of Georgian payment cards increased by 30% in terms of number and by 21% in terms of money. among those transactions, the number of payment operations conducted at trade/service sites has increased by 47% and the amount – by 44%. The number of cash withdrawal operations has increased by 7% and the amount – by 16%.
In the II quarter of 2017, 27,1 mln operations were with payment cards issued in Georgia by means of POS-terminals (including virtual terminals), operating within the country, which operations amounted to 747 mln GEL. The above rate of performed operations is 19% more and the amount is 10% more than similar values of the previous (first) quarter.
In the II quarter of 2017, 15,3 mln cash withdrawal operations were performed within the country, which amounted to 3,5 bln GEL. The above value is 14% more than the value correspondent to the previous (first) quarter in terms of both number and money.