Payment Network Reports 33% Increase in Transactions

EghtesadOnline: The nationwide payment settlement network, Shaparak, processed more than 2.87 billion payments worth 5,199.28 trillion rials ($23.3 billion) in the calendar month to July 21.

News ID: ۷۵۰۶۴۱

09 August 2020

Transactions rose 33.78% in value and 5.09% in volume compared to the month earlier when the company processed 2.73 billion transactions valued at 3,886.38 trillion rials ($17.42 billion).

On year-on-year basis, the transactions increased 22.61% and 96.49% in volume and value, respectively.

Shaparak ascribed the increase in transactions to the rise in payment receiving instruments and debit cards plus growing tendency among the public to use electronic payment tools instead of cash or going to the ATMs, especially due to the coronavirus pandemic.

The steep increase in the value of transaction, however, is ascribed mainly to inflation in consumer prices. Adjusted for inflation, the real value of transactions registered 25.74% growth on a monthly basis and 54.93% rise year-on-year.

Shaparak payment services are available via Internet, cellphone and point of sale (POS) devices.

With more than 11.37 million payment instruments operating during the reviewed month, the total number of instruments showed 1.14% growth compared to the month before.

The rise was mainly attributed to internet payment gateways, which grew 4.21% to reach 1.26 million. The number of mobile platforms and point of sale (POS) devices in shops rose 1.01% and 0.74% during the month, respectively.

In terms of market share, POS devices topped the list with 76.87% share. Mobile instruments came next with 11.98% followed by internet payment gateways at 11.15%.

POS devices accounted for 89.99% of the total by processing 2.58 billion transactions with a total value of 4,049.84 trillion rials ($18.16 billion) during the month.

Online gateways were next accounting for 6.06% of the total transactions and mobile instruments 3.95%.

In terms of services offered by Shaparak, figures show that 86.97% of transactions were related to “buying goods and services”.

“Buying cellphone recharges and paying bills” accounted for 8.22% of all processed transactions during the month. More than 4.81% of the transactions were conducted for “checking account balances”.

Penetration Rates

As for the penetration rate of payment tools, the report said there were 1,873 instruments per 10,000 adults (above 18 years old) during the month.

POS devices had the highest and internet instruments the lowest penetration rates with 1,440 and 208 instruments adults, respectively.

Tehran province was first with the highest number of POS terminals. There were 1.82 million active POS devices in the sprawling capital and its counties, which indicates 1.03% rise compared to the month before.

This was followed by Khorasan Razavi with 682,997 and Isfahan with 607,467 devices. Ilam Province with 62,268 devices had the lowest number of POS devices.