Eurasia Synopsis and Info

Eurasian Digital and Card Payment Statistics Yearbook

Russia and the countries of Central Asia are some of the world’s fastest-growing card markets, showing rates of growth similar to those of Central and Eastern Europe 17 years ago.

Cards are firmly embedded as the retail payment of choice and are a strategic area of development for banks and governments across the region. While levels of development vary across Eurasia, there is now on average, one card per capita for the regions covered in this Yearbook which is two-thirds of the EU level. 

ATM's per capita are also reaching a similar level to Europe where numbers are starting to decline. The biggest opportunity is in expanding POS terminal networks, which are currently only 21% of Europe's in per capita terms.

Compared with Europe, Russia and Central Asia seem like bandit country to many people. To guide readers through this unfamiliar terrain, PCM has published the Fifth edition of its Yearbook covering Russia, the CIS and Georgia, following the format of the long-established European Payment Cards Yearbook.

The core of the Eurasian Payment Cards Yearbook is the series of profiles of the card markets of the CIS country by country, which include information and data on the following subjects:

  • Key statistics
  • The banking sector – main banks, their size and ownership
  • Internet and mobile banking
  • Account-based and advanced payment services covering the breakdown of cashless payments and the availability of online/mobile wallets
  • Digital wallets
  • The Central Bank, government and postal operators’ role in payments
  • Card types and brands in issue including contactless
  • Number of cards and card usage by number and value
  • Five years data (2018-2022), y-o-y and CAGR 5Y growth rates for all figures
  • E-money
  • Major card issuers, processors and PSPs
  • Acquiring and acceptance including key acquirers, ATM and POS terminal numbers
  • Use of terminals data and KPI’s such as terminals per capita and average transaction values (ATV)
  • Internet use and remote payments
  • Mobile subscribers and mobile payments including QR-based
  • Mobile payment initiatives
  • International money transfers

In addition to the country profiles, the Yearbook includes an overview section including:

  • Regional overview, outlining the evolution of the region’s banking sector and the formation of the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU). The regions dominant banking groups, state ownership, investment by western banks, cross-border investment by CIS banks, other private investment, multilateral banks and agencies, and CIS growth prospects including the impact of the Russia Vs Ukraine conflict. Also addressed are national card schemes and the market trends and battlefields of the Eurasian financial services industry:

    Online Banking, Mobile Banking Apps • Omnichannel, Self-Service Banking – Online and Onsite • Banks and NFC Technologies • Banks and Digital Wallets • Banks and Digital Payments • Banks and Real-Time Payments (RTP) • Banks, Open Banking and Open APIs
  • Cards overview, composed of comparative statistics from the issuer point of view including cards issued, number of payments per country, expenditure on cards by country and a variety of per capita figures highlighting the regions significant potential for market growth
  • Acceptance Networks, a section examining card acquiring and ATM and POS acceptance across the region using comparative statistical tables. Individual Eurasian Payment Statistics country profiles are available to purchase separately: click HERE for country reports