Governor of the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) Natia Turnava met in Washington with Dimitrios Dosis, President of Mastercard for Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa (EEMEA), and Azzam Alameddin, Senior Vice President for Public Policy, EEMEA, within the framework of the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings.

During the meeting, the parties discussed future areas of cooperation and ongoing joint projects. Governor Turnava highlighted the key initiatives and projects in the areas of payment services and financial inclusion that are being successfully implemented through the close collaboration between the NBG and Mastercard.

Governor Turnava noted that the NBG continues to play an active role in supporting the country’s digital transformation and the development of innovative payment services through various reforms.

“In this process, the NBG actively cooperates with international card schemes to ensure that they are fully informed about local market initiatives and reforms, which enables them to provide appropriate support to market participants. At the same time, the NBG values their expertise and contribution to the introduction of new technologies and innovative payment solutions,” stated Governor Turnava.

She further emphasized that with Mastercard’s support, the NBG has taken significant steps over the years to strengthen the operational security of card transactions, which remains one of the NBG’s key priorities.

“Of particular note are the ongoing efforts to enhance strong customer authentication (SCA) processes in card transactions. System upgrades and the introduction of new authentication mechanisms are currently underway. Banks are partially dependent on card schemes in this process — especially for cross-border payments and for technologies provided by these schemes, such as card data tokenization, authentication mechanisms, and other monitoring tools. Cooperation with Mastercard is especially important at this stage, as new players — both local and international fintech companies — are entering the market,” Governor Turnava added.

Governor Turnava is participating in the IMF and World Bank Annual Meetings as part of the Georgian delegation.

The delegation includes Minister of Finance of Georgia Lasha Khutsishvili, NBG Vice Governors Ekaterine Mikabadze and Ekaterine Galdava, Deputy Minister of Finance Ekaterine Guntsadze, and Deputy Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Vakhtang Tsintsadze.

Within the framework of the visit, meetings are also scheduled with representatives of major U.S. investment companies — J.P. Morgan, Citibank, and Bank of America — where Governor Turnava will deliver a presentation to leading international investment funds and institutional investors on Georgia’s investment potential and macroeconomic environment.