Iran's Payment Networks Post Annual Growths

EghtesadOnline: All of Iran's payment systems and networks registered annual growths both in terms of number and volume of transactions in the previous fiscal year that ended on March 20, the chief executive of the Informatics Services Corporation said.

News ID: ۷۸۲۳۵۶

17 April 2018

"Last year, more than 27 billion transactions were processed in the Shetab [interbank] system that shows a 30% improvement in the performance of the system compared with the year before," Seyyed Aboutaleb Najafi was also quoted as saying by ISC's website.

"This huge volume of transactions was managed in complete security and with a sustainability of over 99%," he added.

According to the official, 162 million transactions were recorded only on the eve of the New Persian Year (March 20) in the Shetab system, which was a record, while a daily average of 75 million transactions was processed in the system last year, Financial Tribune reported.

Najafi put the total volume of liquidity transferred through the electronic payment system last year at 52 quadrillion rials ($1.23 trillion), and said POS devices in shops had the predominant share at 60%.

With a 24% share, ATMs ranked second and was followed by Internet and mobile phone payments.

Shaparak Growth

Shaparak, the Central Bank of Iran's payment settlement network and a subset of Shetab, recorded 36 billion transactions last year, registering a 35% YOY increase.

The highest number of transactions was again recorded on the last day of the year and hit the record figure of 220 million, while averaging 98 million transactions per day throughout the year.

However, as the official noted, the numbers include the confirmation messages for each transaction, which raises the total number of actual transactions recorded by Shaparak to about 18 billion.

According to ISC chief, the total volume of liquidity transferred through Shaparak transactions stood at around 17 quadrillion rials ($404.76 billion) last year, while POS devices again had the lion's share at 88%. Mobile phone transactions accounted for 9% and online transfers grabbed a 3% share of all transactions.

Najafi pointed to Chakavak, CBI's system for processing checks, as another major state-run system for transferring liquidity in the country, and said the system managed 122 million checks worth 23 quadrillion rials ($547.61 billion) last year, indicating a 26% increase.

"March 17 saw the highest number of processed checks at 1.59 million," he said, adding that 420,000 checks were on average transacted in the system daily.

In his report, the CEO also referred to Paya, another CBI interbank system, and said the system managed to process 2.44 billion transactions last year, registering a 12% annual hike. A total of 23 quadrillion rials worth of liquidity was also transferred using the system.

"A record 11 million transactions were registered in Paya [an inter-bank payment network] last year, which averaged at 6.7 million transactions per day," he said.

Najafi also presented his report on Satna, another inter-bank payment network managed by ISC, and said the system processed 11 million transactions last year to showcase an 18% YOY rise.

"A total of 38,000 transactions were averaged by Satna on working days," the official said, adding that the total volume of liquidity transferred through the system was equal to 343 quadrillion rials ($8.16 trillion).

ISC was established in 1993 as an executive arm for creating and operating Iran's comprehensive banking automation system that includes all the aforementioned systems.