The NBG succeeded in implementing of one more viable project in favor of cashless payments development

Next to Visa payment card, the interbank settlement of payment transactions in national currency initiated by MasterCard payment cards is now available in Georgia due to successful implementation of the cooperative project by the NBG-MasterCard “The settlement of Lari transactions”.

The NBG-MasterCard project development process took an year of intense cooperative work. The central bank had been closely cooperating with the MasterCard representatives at the USA central and Turkish regional offices.

The MasterCard six member banks are being operating in Georgian financial sector. The difficulties with settlement of the transactions among member banks initiated by the MasterCard payment cards were conditioned by the fact that such transactions had been settled abroad (extended procedure, currency conversion operations and etc.).  The project implemented by the NBG will facilitate the speed up and ease of the settlement process which is the positive factor for commercial banks. Moreover, it will devote to the improvement of quality and level of customer satisfaction as well as better the competitive environment among Georgian commercial banks. From now on along with Visa payment cards the commercial banks will actively offer the MasterCard payment products to its client that will on its own create the variety of choices for the customers. And finally it will contribute to popularization of cashless payments in Georgia.