The central banks of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan have agreed to work out a mechanism for integrating their national QR payment systems by the end of 2026. This will allow citizens to pay for purchases abroad using their familiar banking apps, Qazinform News Agency reports.
The agreement was reached at the fourth regional meeting of representatives of the central banks of the five countries, held in Tajikistan on October 22-23, a statement from the National Bank of Kazakhstan reads. Participants discussed the development of national payment platforms, instant payment systems, cashless transactions and remote customer identification.
The Kazakh delegation presented the progress made in developing the National Digital Financial Infrastructure, including the digital tenge, open banking, biometric identification platforms and the National Anti-Fraud Center. Special attention was given to the Interbank Mobile Payment System, which enables users to make transfers using phone numbers and pay for goods and services via QR codes.
The participants supported Kazakhstan’s proposed approaches to integrating national QR payment systems. In the future, citizens of the five countries will be able to pay for goods and services while travelling abroad using their banks’ mobile apps, as well as send and receive money transfers in real time.
Kazakhstan also proposed joint measures for information sharing and the regulation of digital assets. The parties then discussed protecting payment infrastructure against cyberattacks, combating fraud, and applying artificial intelligence in the supervision of payment systems.
Earlier, it was reported that Kazakhstan plans to set up a National Cryptocurrency Analytics Center to monitor transactions involving digital assets.