| Market Overview | |
|---|---|
| Payment Organisation | None. |
| Domestic Card Brand | PAY debit cards. |
| Market Structure | Cards per capita reached 2.38 in 2023, a 13.98% rise from 2022. Cards issued have more than doubled since the 2008 Russian incursion. POS payments to merchants are much higher than the norm for emerging payment markets. All Georgian banks are privately-owned. Foreign capital plays an important role, accounting for 93.3% of banking sector assets. Until end-2016, Société Générale, through Bank Republic, was the main western bank investor. Banks from Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and China are present in Georgia. In June 2014, Georgia and the EU signed a formal association agreement with the objective of later EU membership. |
| Notable Market Trends | Rollout of contactless cards and POS terminals; HCE NFC pilot; express branches, government anti-fraud initiatives; launch of Apple Pay; high proportion of digital and contactless transactions In 2023, cash withdrawal volumes and values sustained a rebound, up by 6.5% and 11.5% YoY. Similarly, POS payments value rose by 37% from 2022. The National Bank of Georgia is keen to explore the use of a central bank digital currency. |
| Major Card Issuers | Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, TeraBank. |
| Major Card Acquirers | Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank. |
| Major Card Processors | Georgian Card, Union Financial Corporation, Liberty Bank |
| Key Statistics 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Population | 3.69 million, 2.38 cards per capita |
| Cards | Debit: 8.25 million Credit: 0.55 million Total: 8.81 million |
| Card Payments | All cards: 793.20 million; value GEL 32.20 billion ($12.25 billion) |
| POS Terminals | 123,559 (includes 1,099 in bank branches) |
| POS Payments | All cards 722.28 million; value GEL 27.44 billion ($10.44 billion) |
| ATMs | 2,846 |
| ATM Withdrawals | All cards: 108.69 million; value GEL 43.61 billion ($16.59 billion) |
Introduction – Payments in Georgia
Georgia is a presidential republic with a unicameral parliament, the Supreme Council (Umaghlesi Sabcho).
In June 2014, Georgia took an important step towards eventual EU membership with the signature of a formal association agreement, which entered into force in 2016. This provides for Georgia to enter into a DCFTA (Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area) in order to integrate its economy into the EU’s internal market, with the goal of eventual full EU membership. Association agreements with Georgia and Ukraine were signed at the same time.
Under the DCFTA process, with EU support, Georgia will undertake work on domestic reforms in areas such as the judicial system and anti-corruption measures. The process also requires Georgian banks to adopt EU standards of governance, but in this respect, Georgia has already made significant strides.
Georgia’s relationship with the EU is based on the EU-Georgia Association Agreement, including a Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Area (DCFTA) agreement, which entered into force in July 2016, reflecting Georgia’s aspiration for closer political association and economic integration with the EU. On 3 March 2022, Georgia officially applied for EU membership. However, on 23 June 23rd the European Union declined to grant Georgia candidate status, while granting Ukraine and Moldova’s applications. The EU emphasised the need for Georgia to speed up reforms in areas such as the rule of law, the independence of justice, and media freedom before it can be granted the status of a European Union membership candidate. The Commission put forward a list of priorities that Georgia should address, including the political polarisation, the proper functioning of all state institutions, and the need for “de-oligarchisation”. In December 2023, the EU officially granted candidate status to Georgia.
Bank of Georgia and TBC Bank, the two biggest banks, are listed on the London stock exchange (Bank of Georgia since February 2012 and TBC following its IPO in June 2014) and comply fully with EU regulations.
Another advantage possessed by Georgia in its alignment with the EU is its relatively open economy under government’s long-standing espousal of free market principles.
In terms of digital banking and payment usage, Georgia lags behind other countries in the Eurasian region, due to sparse telecom infrastructure. However, the influence of foreign banking groups who have ownership stakes in several Georgian banks is helping the sector to modernise and digitise many banking processes. An interesting anomaly is that Georgian consumers are prolific users of contactless payments, which comprise over 90% of in-store payments.
At the same time, the National Bank of Georgia is proactively developing regulations to harmonise and standardise payment service provision, including Open Banking to encourage financial inclusion. In 2023, the NBG approved the regulation on inclusion in Open Banking which will allow non-banking institutions to engage in Open Banking as providers of both access to account information and payment initiation services. This inclusion is conditional on the institutions meeting the stipulated requirements by the regulation. The NBG is also exploring the use of a central bank digital currency and has engaged with multiple entities to study how this might be implemented.
Mobile banking transactions have overtaken internet banking transactions in number, and it’s likely that mobile banking apps will be the primary channel though which Georgian consumers access most digital payment services.
Banking Sector
Established in 1991, the National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is an independent institution operating in accordance with Articles 95 and 96 of the Constitution of Georgia and the Organic Law of Georgia of the National Bank of Georgia. The NBG’s Banking Supervision Department supervises the banking sector within Georgia.
In June 2014, Georgia took an important step towards eventual EU membership with the signature of a formal association agreement. With EU support, Georgia will undertake work on domestic reforms in areas such as the judicial system and anti-corruption measures. The banking system and its regulation are also a key element of the process, which requires Georgia’s banks to adopt EU standards of governance.
In 2015, the integration of the NBG’s Core Banking System to the SWIFT System was accomplished in order to improve settlements in foreign currency inside the country.
A new law on e-commerce came into effect in 2018 to better protect consumers’ rights and personal data. The Law on e-commerce regulates the rights and obligations of intermediary service providers in the e-commerce process, as well as protecting consumers by making information services more transparent and standardised.
In May 2018, with the encouragement of the government, Georgia Post launched an e-commerce platform, allowing local small and medium businesses to order or sell products and services in Georgia and abroad.
The Georgian economy has recovered since the shock of the Russian conflict in August 2008 and the global credit crunch in October 2008. Donors were swift to respond to the conflict and aid totalling $4.5 billion was pledged to help with recovery, which was followed by Georgia’s withdrawal from the CIS in 2009. Between 2010 and 2019, Georgia’s GDP per capita grew at an average annual rate of 4.8%.
Real GDP growth in Georgia slowed slightly to 2.8% in 2016 compared to 2.9% in 2015, due partly to the weak external environment, but the economy picked up in the second half of the year, with a rebound in exports and remittances flows. In 2017, GDP grew by 5.0%, 4.8% in 2018 and 5.1% in 2019, helped by tourism and an inflow of foreign investments.
The economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic led to a fall of 6.8% in GDP in 2020, with the service and industrial sectors hit the hardest. Exports fell by 12% and imports fell by nearly 14%, leading to a sharp decline in revenues.
Since March 2021, with the removal of most of the restrictions, the economy gained momentum, with economic indicators significantly exceeding expectations. In 2021, real GDP rose to 10.4%, on the back of post-pandemic economic recovery, including the resumption of travel and tourism, fiscal stimulus measures driving consumer demand, and increased lending. Notably, the economy surpassed the 2019 pre-pandemic level by 2.9% in 2021, faster than previously forecast. The economy sustained its growth trajectory in 2022, with real GDP growth of 10.1% as the Tourism sector fully recovered. Similarly, sound macroeconomic policy buoyed growth, and the influx of Russian refugees and their capital inflows was favourable to Georgia’s economy. By 2023, GDP growth normalised, as influx of migrants and financial inflows slowed, to an estimated 7.5% fueled by a surge in Construction activities.
Inflation was relatively high at 4.9% as of the end of 2019, although economic measures were implemented to reduce lending risks and improve corporate governance. By 2020, inflation averaged 5.2%, above the NBG’s target rate. The NBG stated that its inflation-targeting measures resulted in an average inflation figure of 4.3% between 2009 and 2021. The rise in world commodity prices, utility price increases, and pent-up demand resulted in price pressures in 2021, with annual inflation reaching 9.6%. Inflation worsened further, with annual inflation at 11.9% in 2022 due to higher food and utilities prices. By 2023, inflation tapered to an average of 2.5% reflecting falling global food and energy prices, and currency appreciation. This enabled the National Bank of Georgia to cut the monetary policy rate six times, from 11% to 8.25% from May 2023 to May 2024.
The significant exposure of the Georgian economy to the Russian and Ukrainian markets could affect economic growth in the wake of the Russia-Ukraine conflict which began in February 2022. All external flows from Russia and Ukraine to Georgia accounted for 9.6% of GDP in 2021, while the share of Russia and Ukraine in Georgia’s total exports was 14.4% and 7.2%, respectively, in 2021. Notably, Russia’s share in remittances has decreased significantly in recent years to below 20% of the total in 2020-21 (c. 50% during 2010-14 and c. 30% during 2015-19). In 2022, there was a sharp 402.7% growth in the remittance amount from Russia to $2.06 billion, representing 47.3% of total remittances. This is mainly due to increased migration of Russians to Georgia and the associated inflows. Georgia hosted 1.1 million visitors from Russia in 2022 and Russian citizens opened more than 60,000 accounts in Georgian banks. Similarly, about 15,000 Russian companies were registered in Georgia bringing the number of Russian companies based in Georgia to 22,400 and 66% of them were registered after the start of the war in Ukraine. However, the remittances from Russia slowed by 26.2% to $1.5 billion, albeit still 271% above the 2021 levels.
Structure
Georgia is unique within the former Soviet Union in that there are no state-owned banks and foreign investment in the banking sector has been actively encouraged. Georgia’s banking sector is highly concentrated.
In 2023, there were 17 active commercial banks and 7 branches of foreign banks (Turkey’s TC Ziraat Bank (5) and Isbank (2)) licensed in Georgia. In addition, there was one credit union, 34 microfinance organisations, and 728 currency exchange units licensed in Georgia.
13 banks were foreign-controlled or had a substantial foreign investor, with “non-resident beneficiaries” accounting for 92.9% of banking sector assets. In addition, there were 31 payment service providers registered at NBG at end-2023.
The Bank of Georgia and the Tbilisi Business Centre (TBC) Bank dominate the sector. In 2023, they accounted for 80.9% of the banking sector assets of GEL 64.72 billion
In July 2021, Credo Bank announced the acquisition of FINCA Bank Georgia, supported by PROPARCO (part of the French Development Agency), which joined shareholders German Access Microfinance Holding, Dutch Triodos Investment Management and Swiss ResponsAbility Investments.
In March 2022, following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, VTB Bank ceased its operations in Georgia, migrating its loan portfolio to Basisbank and Liberty Bank.
In March 2024, Bank of Georgia completed the acquisition of Ameriabank having received all necessary shareholder and regulatory approvals.
| 1 - Banks in Georgia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Number of commercial banks | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| - foreign-controlled | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Branch offices | 135 | 149 | 160 | 154 | 139 | 146 |
| Service centers | 792 | 835 | 765 | 756 | 763 | 759 |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||
| 2 - Georgian Banks Total Asset Market Shares | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 38.2 | 38.2 | 39.6 | 41.3 | 41.2 | 4.21% | 6.60% |
| Bank of Georgia | 34.7 | 36.3 | 38.2 | 41.1 | 39.7 | 7.65% | 4.17% |
| Bank Republic | - | - | - | - | |||
| Liberty Bank | 4.7 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 7.21% | 0.00% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.1 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -100.00% | -100.00% |
| ProCredit Bank | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.4 | -20.79% | -12.20% |
| Other banks | 14.6 | 14.2 | 13.3 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -24.81% | -7.16% |
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | |||||||
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
Following bank reforms in the 1990s, the Georgian banking sector was fully privatised and opened up to foreign investment. Several international banks established a significant presence in the country, including Germany’s ProCredit Group (through ProCredit Bank Georgia), France’s Société Générale Group (which acquired a majority stake in Bank Republic in 2006), and Russia’s VTB Bank (through VTB Bank Georgia).
Several banks have international organizations among their shareholders, including the EBRD (European Bank of Reconstruction and Development), IFC (International Finance Corporation), and the German investors DEG (Deutsche Investitions -und Entwicklungsgesellschaft) and KfW (Kreditanstalt für Wiederaufbau).
| 3 - Georgian Banks Deposit Market Shares | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | Q3-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 41.2 | 39.0 | 38.3 | 40.4 | 40.3 | 39.8 | -0.25% | 0.25% |
| Bank of Georgia | 33.9 | 36.3 | 37.9 | 36.4 | 38.9 | 39.0 | 6.87% | 2.79% |
| Liberty Bank | 6.4 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.00% | -2.18% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -100.00% | -100.00% |
| Bank Republic | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| ProCredit Bank | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 | -4.40% | -5.67% |
| Other banks | 10.9 | 11.4 | 10.2 | 6.3 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 74.60% | -1.39% |
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | ||||||||
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 4 - Georgian Banks Loan Market Shares | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | Q3-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 38.8 | 39.5 | 39.3 | 38.8 | 39.5 | 39.6 | 0.25% | 0.41% |
| Bank of Georgia | 33.5 | 34.9 | 34.8 | 35.7 | 36.1 | 36.8 | 1.94% | 1.90% |
| Liberty Bank | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 0.00% | 3.36% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Credo Bank | − | − | − | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | na | na |
| ProCredit Bank | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.00% | -4.49% |
| Other banks | 15.7 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 0.00% | -10.33% |
| Source: Bank of Georgia (2021: TBC Bank) | ||||||||
Bank of Georgia (BGEO) is 19.71%-owned by its JSC Georgia Capital, followed by several institutional investors. It controls Georgian Card (99.48%), the principal card processor in Georgia. Bank of Georgia reported a retail base of more than 1.8 million monthly active retail customers at end-2023, up from 888,800 at end-2011. The bank also had 189 branches, 1,030 ATMs, and 3,153 Express Pay terminals. The bank claims a market share of 39.0% in individual deposits.
In 2006, Bank of Georgia acquired Intellect Bank. In December 2014, Bank of Georgia acquired Privatbank Georgia, the subsidiary of Privatbank (UA) in Georgia, with the integration completed in May 2015.
In 2012, the Bank of Georgia adopted a London Stock Exchange (LSE) listing, enabling investors to access its shares through GDRs. In 2018, the bank demerged its investment banking operations from its main banking business. As a result, Bank of Georgia Group PLC became the 100% owner of JSC BGEO Group, principal shareholder of the bank.
TBC Bank with 123 branches is one of the largest banks by total bank assets. It has been in the market since 1992. It reported 1.6 million active retail clients in 2023, including the retail clients of absorbed Bank Republic. TBC Bank owns the processor United Financial Corporation (UFC) and TBC Pay, its own PSP. In August 2019 TBC Bank finalised the acquisition process of My.ge, an online services platform with a 65% stake. As of 2023, it also had a network of 703 ATMs and 4,406 self-service terminals, along with 33,000 POS terminals.
As of 2023, TBC Bank claimed a 39.8% market share of deposits, slightly higher than that of Bank of Georgia; both banks, however, are very considerably bigger than Liberty and Bank Republic, the nearest rivals. Ahead of its June 2014 London IPO and following the acquisition of Bank Republic, TBC claimed to have moved ahead of Bank of Georgia to become the largest bank in Georgia, “by all metrics”, according to its 2018 annual report.
As at end-2023, the major shareholders include two founding investors (15.8%), the EBRD (3.0%), IFC (2.8%) plus free float for the balance (78.4%).
In May 2011, TBC Bank acquired Bank Constanta which has concentrated purely on the micro-finance segment in Georgia. The merger of TBC Bank with Bank Constanta was complete in January 2015. In September 2016, TBC Bank bought 93.64% of Bank Republic from Société Générale (F), which became a new shareholder of TBC Bank Group.
TBC is developing a presence in Azerbaijan, where it acquired TBC Kredit in 2007. TBC reported plans to apply for a banking licence or acquire a small Azerbaijani bank.
In May 2018, TBC Bank launched its own digital bank subsidiary – Space. Space provides customers with cloud-based and mobile app retail banking services including loans, saving products and payment cards. The business was developed from concept to launch in just eight months using Banking as a Service platform Mambu. By the end of 2020, Space had around 246,000 registered customers, up by 36% year-on-year, out of whom 27% were previously inactive customers and 14% were new customers. In addition, in May 2020, Space launched its web channel, which makes Space’s services more accessible to the wider population. By the end of the year, the web platform had attracted around 63,000 customers.
TBC Bank’s payments ecosystem includes both traditional payment channels such as e-commerce, POS and self-service terminals as well as innovative payment methods comprising Apple Pay, QR payments and e-wallets. The bank claims to have the largest market share in e-commerce and POS transactions in Georgia. Its payment infrastructure is 100% contactless and consists of its own ATMs, POS terminals and self-service terminals, as well as a network of eight partner banks sharing their payment channels.
Its subsidiary, TBC Pay, increased its presence in the self-service terminal market to 4,500 terminals and also introduced subscription services and digital cards.
Bank Republic – Société Générale (F) was the biggest western bank investor, holding 93.64% of Bank Republic, the fifth-biggest bank; the balance of the shares was held by EBRD. Bank Republic reported active 209,609 customers (up from 174,300 in 2011) and 41 branches at end-2015. In September 2016, Société Générale agreed to sell its majority stake in Bank Republic (93.64%) to TBC Bank Group for an expected GEL 315 million, of which 70% was payable in cash and 30% in newly issued TBC Bank Group shares. As a result, SocGen would hold a limited minority stake in TBC Bank Group. The transaction closed end-2016. TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic in 2017.
Liberty Bank – People’s Bank, previously the state-owned AgroMretsvBank, was privatised in 1994. One of the big three banks, it was renamed Liberty Bank in 2010 and is being revitalised under the leadership of Lado Gurgenidze, a former prime minister of Georgia, CEO of Bank of Georgia and one-time senior executive of ABN Amro, with Romanian oligarch Dinu Patriciu as the key investor. As Liberty Holding Georgia (LHG), they held 60.46% at end-2016, and Treasury shares accounted for 19.0%. In October 2017, European Financial group BV (EFG) acquired a 76.64% stake in Liberty Bank with other investors accounting for the balance. As of the end of 2022, Georgian Financial Group had a 74.38% stake and had the highest voting rights at 91.99%.
The recovery of Liberty from what Gurgenidze has described as its “near-death” experience in 2008 has made good progress, particularly in client balances and deposits. Liberty has increased its market share to 5.5% of total bank assets at end-2022.
Liberty Bank reported a retail base of 1.7 million customers as at end-2021. The total number of retail accounts reached 3.5 million in 2021, up from 1.6 million at end-2011. Liberty Bank also provided payroll services to 140,000 individuals. Liberty had more than 631 ATMs and 474 branches, 230 self-service terminals, distribution outlets and mobile banking units operating in Georgia by end-2022.
In May 2022, Liberty Bank won the public tender for the provision of state pensions and welfare payments distribution services in Georgia, which will commence in January 2023. According to the bank, more than 1,100 villages served by Liberty are at least five miles from the nearest municipality or urban centre.
ProCredit Bank in Georgia is one of 12 members of the ProCredit Group, founded in Germany as ‘Internationale Micro Investitionen’ in 1998 by the development finance consultancy IPC with the slogan ‘Neighbourhood Banks for Ordinary People. ProCredit Bank focuses on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in Georgia. In 2020, ProCredit Bank Georgia reported four branches, one service point and seven self-service areas in Tbilisi, Kutaisi, Batumi, and Zugdidi.
As of 2021, expansion of remote channels means bank clients could carry out nearly 99% of banking operations independently. The bank implemented video identification to serve customers and account applications remotely.
VTB Bank Georgia – Moscow-based VTB Group reported a total of 3 million individual customers outside Russia, over half of whom are in Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, and Ukraine, at end-2020. VTB lost market share in Georgia after the 2008 invasion but has since recovered. As of 2020 it had 28 branches and service centres and 66 ATMs.
In May 2021, VTB launched an enhanced mobile app, allowing customers to use biometric ID confirmation. During the first three weeks after launch, half of active users had already switched to the new Mobile bank and a third of transactions were carried out through updated channels.
In 2020, the pandemic led to a surge in usage of remote VTB channels. Notably, the volume of calls to the video bank grew 15 times, accounting an increase of 1,524%. There was also a considerable rise in sales of products such as loans, credit cards and deposits. Video Bank is accessible from mobile apps or the bank website, allowing customers to call a bank operator without prior authorisation.
Following the Russian invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, VTB Bank Georgia was sanctioned by international organisations and the NBG, which led to the bank offloading its consumer loans and deposit portfolios to Basisbank of Georgia.
TeraBank (formerly Kor Standard Bank) – Standard Bank, Georgia’s seventh-largest and originally linked to the late businessman Badri Patarkatsishvili, was acquired by UAE interests, led by the investment company, Dhabi Group, for $42 million in June 2008 and was merged with Kor Bank Georgia as Kor Standard Bank. In 2015-2016 KSB Bank worked on the rebranding project. As of May 2016, the bank operated with a new business strategy and the new rebranded name, JSC TeraBank. As of 2023, the bank had 32 branches throughout Georgia.
In March 2022, TeraBank began offering Open Banking services to its mobile banking customers, following a successful implementation for internet banking customers can now view all of their bank accounts, including those of other banks, in TeraBank’s digital channels.
In July 2022, TeraBank launched Tera Bot, an artificial intelligence-driven customer service assistant available on Facebook Messenger. The multi-functional Tera Bot allows users to get quick answers to their questions such as information about exchange rates, details about their personal finances, information about performed banking operations, keeping track of specific expenditures like food purchases and utility bills, and obtaining more information about the bank’s products and services.
BasisBank, a Georgian-owned bank in which EBRD held 15%, was sold to China’s Hualing Group in June 2012. Hualing acquired a shareholding of 92.78% in BasisBank, with Zurab Tsikhistavi, the bank’s founder, retaining a minority interest. The transaction was reported to be the first acquisition of a foreign commercial bank by a Chinese private sector group. As of 2023, the bank had 39 branches and service centres and 200,000 customers.
In February 2022, Basisbank announced the merger of the loan and deposit portfolios from VTB Bank Georgia and finalised the process of migration of VTB clients’ balances to its ledgers in March 2022. This merger increased Basisbank’s assets by more than 35%.
As a result, BB’s retail and business customer franchise boosted significantly which is well in line with the Bank’s growth strategy and ambitious transformation journey of becoming third largest bank in Georgia and gaining significant share and increase market penetration, increase our footprint and presence in regions, adding new business and individuals to our clients’ base.
Other foreign-controlled banks include Halyk from Kazakhstan and T.C. Ziraat from Turkey. HSBC, which is present in neighbouring Armenia, began operations in Georgia in 2009, but withdrew in 2012 on grounds of limited size and scale, while Turkey’s Isbank entered the market in 2012.
International Bank of Azerbaijan had its banking licence revoked in 2018 by the NBG with the aim of transforming it into a non-banking credit business.
Digital Banking
All retail banks in Georgia offer online banking and mobile banking apps to their clients. It is popular among retail users and small businesses. Georgia had an Internet user penetration rate of 78.7% at the end of 2023, and more than 36% of the population use some form of internet banking. According to the NBG’s annual report in 2023, the number of payments made through mobile banking increased by 104% from 2022 accounting for 19% of total non-cash payments as mobile banking represents the fastest-growing payment channel in Georgia.
There is no bank-independent electronic banking standard in Georgia; each bank offers its own proprietary system for banking purposes. Services include balance and transaction reporting and payment initiation.
At the beginning of 2020, Open Banking was established with the Georgian Banking Association to facilitate further project development. In September 2020, the Open Banking Committee launched Open Banking and the first version of the implementation framework was developed. Open Banking was officially launched in Georgia in March 2021. Over 2022, APIs have been launched for payments initiation.
In July 2020 the NBG announced the development of digital bank licensing principles, with the aim of promoting new business models and diverse financial products, making better use of big data and building a digital financial ecosystem, including cloud services and development of Banking-as-a-Service business models. In September 2020 the NBG developed the strong user authentication rule to ensure the protected authentication of payment service users, and to reduce fraud and build trust in digital payment services. The NBG also drafted new regulation on card instruments in September 2020, establishing a unified approach to the payment market, and payment service providers registered with the NBG who issue card instruments. The definition of a card instrument now includes virtual and digital cards, mobile apps, stickers, watches and other wearable devices.
In 2020, the Office of Financial Innovation was established by the NBG to promote responsible innovations in the financial sector and FinTechs in Georgia. In the same year, the NBG joined the Global Financial Innovation Network (GFIN), which is inviting Georgian financial institutions to develop new technologies to be introduced internationally.
In 2021, the NBG announced the launch of a regulatory laboratory for financial innovation to develop and promote FinTech, banking and payment services. 40 companies used the laboratory in 2021. In February 2022, the NBG published an updated draft Regulation on Data-Driven Statistical, Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Model Risk Management at Financial Institutions.
In 2023, the Bank of Georgia served more than 1.80 million active monthly retail banking customers (49% of Georgia’s population) through its mobile app, a 10.8% growth from 2022. The Bank also reported a 21.0% growth from 2022 in digital users to 1.35 million users through the mBank and iBank platforms, as more customers shifted daily activity to the mobile app. 96.4% of total transactions were through non-branch channels and the share of transactions through the mBank and iBank channels increased to 58.2% in 2022 from 50.8% in 2021. In 2023, share of products activated through digital channels rose to 70.3% from 47.1% in 2022, and the number of transactions via these channels was up 43.9% from 2022.
The rate of daily active digital users over monthly active digital users (DAU/MAU) stood at 50.9% at the end of December 2023, up from 47.6% in December 2022 and 44.2% in December 2021. The offloading rate of total transactions was 96% in 2022, driven by the increasing share of mobile/internet banking transactions.
During 2021, Bank of Georgia continued to enhance the mBank app with redesigned end-to-end digital journeys to make mBank the primary channel for its customers. As of 31 December 2022, active digital users represented 69% of total active individual customers (2021: 59%). In 2022, 14.8 million transactions were executed in mBank per month, a 3.9 % increase from 2021.
Bank of Georgia also noted that Open Banking is necessary to leverage the potential of digital ecosystems.
In 2021, Bank of Georgia launched instalments/BNPL in its e-commerce proposition, stating that this alternative payment method would help grow the underdeveloped Georgian e-commerce market.
During 2021, Bank of Georgia developed its digital marketplace and ecosystem, stating that it is becoming necessary to be a one-stop-shop for customers, to help them procure as many services as possible through a seamless, integrated experience. More than 2 million people interact daily with Bank of Georgia’s channels, allowing it to accumulate a vast amount of data on customer behaviour – around 800,000 different types of information. This helped the bank improve customer satisfaction and data-driven decision-making, including personalised offers. The payments business is a significant contributor to the growth of net fee and commission income. The payments business generated around 27.8% of the bank’s net fee and commission income in 2021. In 2022, Bank of Georgia fully launched sCoolApp, the first financial mobile application for school students in Georgia with the aim of increasing basic financial literacy of young people by enabling access to digital financial services. By the end of 2022, 33,167 school students were monthly active users of the app. By the end of 2023, 90,000 school students were monthly active users of sCoolApp. In 2022, the bank also added a money box (digital piggy-bank) as a separate product to the digital channels. Customers can open a money box independently of a deposit (Previously, customers could only link a money box to a deposit).
As of 2023, TBC reported 1.6 million monthly active digital users, growing by 7% from 2022, with digitisation levels rapidly increasing. The number of monthly active digital users reached 921,000 (up by 15% year-on-year) in December 2023. During 2022, customer engagement in remote channels remained high, with 99% of transactions conducted via remote channels by retail customers, including 68% coming from TBC’s internet and mobile banking applications.
A large part of TBC’s transactional business in the retail and MSME segments is conducted via remote channels, resulting in a retail offloading ratio of 98% in 2022, which means that only about 2% of all transactions are conducted in branches. In 2022, around 98% of TBC’s active legal customers used business internet or mobile banking, with the DAU/MAU ratio standing at 48% by the end of 2022.
In addition, TBC introduced Open Banking, enabling customers to add other Georgian bank accounts to its mobile banking applications and manage their banking operations centrally. Digital banking services included an IBAN scanner to simplify money transfers.
Payment Services
In 2024, the more than 300 different payment services offered in Europe can be grouped into:
- Card brands and card types
- E-money and prepaid products by issued brand
- Account-based payment services by issued brand, e.g. IBAN-based SCT/SDD services
- Advanced payment services. e.g. wallets by issued brand
- Digital payment services, e.g. digital scheme wallets by issued brand
Card Brands and Card Types
All Georgian retail banks issue cards. Payment cards particularly debit cards, have increased rapidly over recent years. In parallel, development of payroll schemes continued to drive cards usage.
The former domestic card systems are phased-out and have been replaced by international cards. In November 2011, Liberty Bank launched what it described as a national payments system, branded as PAY.
Georgian card products like consumer cards, commercial cards and purchasing cards range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards. Additional card features (e.g. picture cards, bonus points, PIN selection at ATMs and card control by SMS notification) are used to attract cardholders. Also, individual picture cards and collector cards can be issued on demand. Further, card-to-card P2P services have been launched. In 2021, EMV migration continued to comprise more than 80% of all cards issued.
From July 2023, banks and other card issuers will no longer issue Maestro cards. Instead, they will need to issue a Debit Mastercard. Maestro was launched in 1991 and was the world’s first debit card that could be used via an online network. About 400 million Maestro cards are in circulation worldwide, mainly across Europe. However, Maestro is not enabled for the demands of e-commerce and cannot be used for online or in-app payments, hence the decision to phase it out in favour of Mastercard Debit products. Visa announced that Electron cards will be phased out globally in 2024. The features of the Visa Debit card have been modified to match the features of the Visa Electron card.
Debit cards issued are PAY, Mastercard, VISA, Maestro, and Electron cards. There are no V PAY cards in circulation.
Credit Cards issued are cards branded VISA, Mastercard, American Express, or UnionPay.
Prepaid Cards – Georgian banks have started to issue prepaid cards, e.g. virtual prepaid cards for internet use.
Co-branded cards – In Georgia, few co-branded cards are in circulation.
In 2018, VTB Bank and Unicard launched a co-branded debit card with a loyalty program attached.
Contactless Cards and form-factors
Banks in Georgia issue contactless cards with added PayPass or payWave function, respectively. According to the schemes, banks and merchants in Georgia are actively adopting contactless payments as a priority, and the country is the leader in contactless payments in the region.
In December 2020, VISA reported that a culture of innovation, a proactive approach by regulators, and strong engagement from leading banks and companies had made Georgia a leader in contactless payment, ranking in the top three countries in the world for domestic contactless payments, which accounts for more than 95% of all domestic face-to-face transactions. Banks in Georgia made contactless capability an integral part of their product lines, not just a stand-alone product. Concurrently, a massive push on the acceptance side established the contactless acceptance infrastructure earlier than other countries. The first mobile NFC transactions took place in 2015 and in 2016 VISA brought VISA Token Services to the Georgian market, allowing secure contactless payment via smartphones. Apple Pay was launched in the country in 2019.
VISA also noted that, unlike in almost all other markets, the Covid-19 crisis saw a slight dip in the proportion of payments made by contactless technology in Georgia, due to older consumers preferring cash, and mask-wearing reducing facial recognition authentication. A planned pilot project will see Bank of Georgia becoming the first bank in CISSEE to launch Face ID-based payments in transit.
Predefined contactless limits – Contactless payments of purchase amounts below a predefined contactless limit are without PIN or signature and without transaction receipt. In Georgia, the contactless limit for low value payments without PIN/signature was set at GEL 50 for cards with PayPass or payWave function, but in response to the Covid-19 pandemic, the limit was raised to GEL 100 to promote non-cash transactions.
Interchange Fee Arrangements
International and Intra European Non-EEA Interchange Fees are set by the members of the international card schemes to be applied in case of cross-border transactions or foreign cards used in Georgia, respectively. The effective rates of Mastercard and VISA Europe can be found on the respective Mastercard and VISA websites.
Domestic Merchant Interchange Fee (DMIF) for Georgian cards is defined by Mastercard and VISA, respectively.
E-Money
In Georgia, the law “On Payment Systems and Payment Services” regulates the effective functioning of payment systems in Georgia, which also covers usage of electronic money.
In 2022, 115.9 million e-money transactions were made for a value of GEL 388.18 million.
In March 2016, prepaid product service provider paysafecard launched its prepaid online payment service, paysafecard Georgia, for digital goods at over 2,500 Express Bank terminals of Bank of Georgia. paysafecard is available in the GEL currency in amounts of 10, 20, 30, 50 and 70 lari.
Account-based Payment Services
In the Yearbooks, account-based payment services are classified as bank payment services on bank accounts offered by banks or by independent payment initiation service providers (PISP).
In 2009, NBG started to work on the standardisation of account numbers in banking. After studying the existing situation, NBG, working together with the commercial banks and with the support of the Association of Georgian Banks, decided to introduce unified international bank account numbers (IBAN).
Credit transfers can be paper-based or automated. However, the majority of credit transfers in Georgia are electronic. Credit transfers are used for both high-value corporate and low-value retail payments. Electronic credit transfers are used by the government and companies for salary, supplier, and benefit payments. All credit transfers can be cleared and settled via the RTGS system in real time.
Direct debits are available in Georgia and are used for low-value recurring payments such as utility bills. Direct debit use is low. They can be cleared and settled via the RTGS system.
As in many European countries, bank transfers have been adopted for online payments, enabling consumers to pay direct from their bank account as an alternative service to payment cards.
Advanced Payment Services
In the Yearbooks, advanced payment services are classified as online wallets, e-wallets, and/or mobile wallets with any type of payment service chosen by the wallet user to complete the payment.
In selected Georgian online shops, the online wallets PayPal, Yandex and Webmoney are offered as payment means.
PayPal – PayPal is available in Georgia. As of end-2023, PayPal reported 426 million active customer accounts globally, down 2% from 435 million in 2022. This consisted of 391 million customer active accounts and 35 million merchant active accounts across approximately 200 markets. PayPal’s total payment volume increased to $1.53 trillion (up 12% from 2022) and customer engagement grew to an average of 58 transactions per active account, driving 14% growth in transactions per active account at the end of 2023.
During 2020, with consumers worldwide embracing digital wallet capabilities, the company launched several related services including QR Code Checkout, Buy Now Pay Later, Crypto purchasing and Xoom direct transfers to bank accounts and debit cards.
In June 2018, PayPal continued its shopping spree with a $400 million cash deal to acquire e-commerce platform Hyperwallet. The acquisition followed deals to buy Venmo, Xoom, Sweden’s iZettle (renamed Zettle) for $2.2 billion and AI-based merchant marketing outfit Jetlore, as Paypal bids to extend its reach to all corners of the payments market.
In May 2022, PayPal Ventures invested in Modulr, an embedded payments platform for digital businesses, as part of a $108 million Series C funding round led by General Atlantic, Blenheim Chalcot, Frog Capital, and Highland Europe. Modulr delivers payments infrastructure for over 200 top-tier customers, including Revolut, Wagestream, Sage and BrightPay, and processes an annualised transaction value of more than £100 billion.
In 2023, PayPal is exploring the sale of Xoom, its international money transfer subsidiary, in a bid to cut cost and focus on high-growth business areas. Also, Stax Payments – an all-in-one payment provider for businesses – announced its partnership with PayPal in July 2023. This partnership will allow PayPal’s users to easily make payments with more than 20,000 merchants of Stax through a fast checkout process as well as new payment options such as Buy-now-pay-later solutions.
In 2023, PayPal launched its own US dollar-denominated stablecoin, PayPal USD (PYUSD), which is fully backed by US dollar deposits, short-term US treasuries, and similar cash equivalents and designed for digital payments and Web3. Eligible US PayPal customers who purchase PayPal USD will be able to transfer the token to external wallets, send person-to-person payments, fund purchases at checkouts supported by PayPal, and convert cryptocurrency holdings to and from PayPal USD.
In January 2024, PayPal launched AI-powered features to drive personalized offerings for both merchants and customers based on the data it possesses. These features include Smart Receipts (for merchants) which predicts what shoppers may want to buy next from the merchant. The merchant can then offer personalised recommendations and cashback offers on this receipt. A major feature for users is CashPass which will use give users personalised cashback offers based on an AI analysis of their spending activity.
In March 2024, PayPal launched a complete suite of payment processing tools for online small businesses in the UK, Canada, and across more than 20 European markets. The PayPal Complete Payments package enables small businesses to accept an expanded range of payment instruments including PayPal, buy now pay later, Apple Pay, Google Pay, credit and debit cards, and alternative payment methods from around the world. By April 2024, PayPal added new features to its complete payments solution for small businesses to enable small businesses to accept a range of payments including PayPal, Venmo and PayPal Pay Later products. PayPal also gave small businesses access to four new features to help them drive payment acceptance and enhance how they run their business, and this will include Apple Pay as a checkout option.
Digital Account-to-Account Payment Services
In the Yearbooks, digital payment services are classified as card-based payment services using EMV tokenisation security on the internet combined with HCE NFC technology in case of contactless payments at POS terminals.
As at mid-2022, the Click to Pay online payment checkout service was not yet available in Georgia. Click to Pay is a joint service between Mastercard, Visa, Discover and American Express, enabling consumers to make secure one-click payments without having to enter card details or passwords online.
Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Kazakhstan are processed as payments on contactless cards.
Global contactless transaction values will reach $10 trillion by 2027, up from $4.6 trillion in 2022, with contactless mobile and wearable payments expected to grow by 221% and contactless card payments by 119% over the same period.
Contactless ticketing spend will increase by more than 440% globally between 2022 and 2027, with growing prominence and support for OEM pay solutions, such as Apple Pay, Google Pay and Samsung Pay being a key enabler for mobile NFC ticketing across many markets.
Overall growth in contactless transaction values will be catalysed by growing mobile payments adoption, with 99% of all smartphones capable of making contactless payments by 2027, up from 94% today, and average transaction values for Apple Pay reaching $28.20 and $33.40 for Google Pay.
Global mobile payments mainly consist of wallets such as PayPal, Apple Pay, and Alipay, but many other options came to be. In 2022, mobile wallets accounted for roughly half of global e-commerce payment transactions. The market size of such wallets varied significantly between regions, however. Estimates are that out of approximately 2.8 billion mobile wallets in use worldwide, nearly half were in Asia-Pacific alone. China, India, and Southeast Asia are behind this trend. Indeed, in North America and Europe, the mobile payments topic increasingly overlaps with discussions on “alternative payments” – all payments conducted without cash or cards.
Apple Pay has become one of the world’s most used digital payment methods. Its user base increased from 521.4 million to 535.8 million in 2023.
According to Apple’s Q2 last 2022, they saw a record of transactions with more than 1.8 billion processed during the quarter, up 40% year-over-year. This payment method is also available in over 90% of the US and 60% of stores globally.
Apple Pay is the #1 most popular digital wallet with a 92% market share, processing a global total of $6 trillion in payments in 2022 and produced a revenue of $1.9 billion.
As of 2023, Apple Pay processed 14.2% of all online consumer payments and 3.5% of all in-store purchases.
Around 51% of global iPhone users have enabled Apple Pay. There are 10 million Apple Pay-friendly contactless payment terminals worldwide.
The transactions made using Apple Pay are mostly in-store purchases, online transactions, and peer-to-peer payments. It is trendy for contactless payments, especially during the COVID-19 pandemic.
In 2024, an estimated 60.2 million Apple Pay users in the United States; projections indicate that over 75 million consumers will use Apple Pay by 2030.
Putting it all together, Apple Pay is increasingly becoming an effective customer acquisition and retention feature for Apple. In June 2022, Apple Pay added Apple Pay Later, its own buy-now-pay-later service, allowing users to split purchases into four equal instalments with no interest or fees. Initially launched in the US, the service is expected to roll out to other countries during 2023. In 2023, Apple launched its Card savings account from Goldman Sachs with a 4.15% annual percentage yield. Apple Wallet users can set up and manage a savings account directly from Apple Card in Wallet, with no fees, no minimum deposits, and no minimum balance requirements.
In 2019 Georgia became the first country in the South Caucasus region to implement Apple Pay. As of mid-2024 11 banks in Georgia supported Apple Pay.
Google Pay has 150 million users across 42 global markets.
In January 2022, it was reported that the company was planning to transform Google Pay into a “comprehensive digital wallet”, following the app’s reported slow growth and the shutdown of Plex. In April, it was reported that Google was planning to revive the “Google Wallet” branding in a new app or interface and integrated with Google Pay. Google officially announced Google Wallet on May 11, 2022, at the 2022 Google I/O keynote. The app began rolling out on Android smartphones on July 18, replacing the 2018 app and co-existing with the 2020 Google Pay app in the US. While the app name itself was changed from Google Pay to Google Wallet, the service name of actually paying for things online or in-store remains as “Google Pay.”
In the US, Google Pay has over 25.2 million users. Also, Google Pay is used on nearly 800,000 websites as a secure payment gateway. Roughly 20% of all mobile purchases are made using this digital payment processor.
Google Pay is now supported in Georgia and is available through 14 banks and payment system operators. Google Wallet was launched in Georgia in November 2022.
Samsung Pay is available in 29 countries worldwide and has an estimated 140 million users. Samsung Pay works with Galaxy phones, including the latest Galaxy S22. Samsung claims that its system will work with almost all point-of-sale systems: NFC, magnetic stripe, and EMV (Europay, MasterCard, and Visa) terminals for chip-based cards.
In May 2020, Samsung Pay unveiled Samsung Money by SoFi, a mobile-first money management experience that makes available a cash management account and accompanying Mastercard debit card via the Samsung Pay app, in partnership with fintech company SoFi.
In June 2022, Samsung Pay was renamed to Samsung Wallet in the US, UK, France, Germany, Italy, and Spain. Along with the renaming came new features such as the ability to store digital assets and digital keys within the Wallet app.
As of mid-2022 Samsung Pay was not supported in Georgia.
Contactless payments on cards using Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, or Google Pay (previously Android Pay) made by foreign users at contactless POS terminals in Georgia, are believed to be processed as payments on contactless cards.
Overview of Cashless Payments
Cash is the most important payment medium in Georgia and is used for both low-value retail and commercial transactions. However, electronic, and cashless payments are playing an increasingly important role in everyday life.
In electronic payments generally, credit transfers are the dominant cashless payment instrument in terms of both volume and value. Card payments are the only significant type of electronic retail payments, as direct debits are not widely used.
The NBG continued to work on payment services of the updated directive (Directive (EU) 2015/2366 on payment services) implementation.
In 2023, 15 commercial banks, the NBG, and the Treasury of the Ministry of Finance were participants in the RTGS. In 2023, there were 49.2 million payments through the RTGS system, with transaction value reaching GEL 435.7 billion, 16% and 21.5% higher than 2022 respectively. In 2023, the share of commercial banks’ customer payments in total RTGS payments was 29.1% in terms of value and 85% in terms of volume.
According to the NBG, payment cards are the most popular form of non-cash payment. In 2023, card transactions comprised 68% of non-cash payments value, while mobile banking transactions comprised 19%, and internet banking transactions comprising 4% of non-cash payments value.
Cheques are typically only used for salary payments. They are rarely used in Georgia. Cheques are cleared and exchanged bilaterally between banks.
Exchange Rates
The Georgian lari (GEL) is the national currency.
| 5 - Average Exchange Rates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| GEL in EUR | 2.9917 | 3.1543 | 3.5504 | 3.8153 | 3.0812 | 2.8415 |
| GEL in USD | 2.5341 | 2.8182 | 3.109 | 3.2216 | 2.9162 | 2.6280 |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||
Market Infrastructure
In mid-2019, the Trulioo digital ID verification system entered the Georgian market as part of the country’s commitment to improving its AML (anti money-laundering) and KYC (know your customer) processes at a systemic level.
As of 2023, 31 payment service providers were registered with the NBG. In 2023, payment service providers carried out 137.6 million operations with a total volume of GEL 13.1 billion. Compared to 2022, the number of payments increased by 2%, while the amount increased by 25%. In 2023, electronic money providers (excluding transport payments) facilitated 12 million payments totalling GEL 386.2 million.
Creditinfo Georgia
Creditinfo Georgia specialises in the provision of credit information and maintains a centralised database, the Defaulting Debtors Database, with processed information from official sources (Georgian courts, tax and statistics departments) and commercial sources such as its customers (banks, leasing and telecoms companies) relating to debt defaults by individuals and companies. Creditinfo Georgia claims that its core services comply with EU Directive (95/46/EC) on the handling and transmitting of personal information.
Shareholders are National Credit Information Bureau (which despite its name is more focused on marketing and business services), Creditinfo International and four banks – Procredit Bank, TBC Bank, Bank of Georgia and Bank Republic. Creditinfo Georgia had over 250 clients in 2021, including banks, micro-finance organisations, online lenders, leasing companies, insurance companies, distributors, mobile network operators, petrol retailing companies and others.
In March 2018, Creditinfo went mobile with its MyCreditinfo app. As at September-2024, it reported more than 1.9 million active borrowers in its database, representing $48.4 billion in contracts.
The NBG’s Credit Information Bureau was implemented in 2018. As of end-2023, 250 lending organisations participated in the Bureau and 19 organisations cooperated with it.
Georgian Card
Georgian Card, the main card processor, is wholly owned by subsidiaries of Bank of Georgia, e.g. GC Holding. Georgian Card is almost exclusively an in-house processor for Bank of Georgia, as only the small Pasha Bank Georgia, Silk Road Bank and the corporate-focused First British Bank are “bank partners” (i.e. processing clients).
Georgian Card was established in 1996 by a group of commercial banks, including Bank of Georgia, Bank Republic, United Georgian Bank (now VTB Bank Georgia), Georgian Post Bank, TBC Bank and Imedi, a French company. Georgian Card has been licensed to process VISA and Mastercard transactions since 1999 and also processes local debit cards. Bank of Georgia was the first customer, issuing local cards for salary schemes in 1997, with Georgian Post Bank and United Georgian Bank following in 1998.
Bank of Georgia has increased its equity interest in Georgian Card from 19.06% to 50.1% in 2004 and then to 58%. SocGen-controlled Bank Republic, the main minority shareholder, sold its 42% interest in Georgian Card to Express Technologies (www.espresstechnologies.ge), which is described as the “technology hub” of Bank of Georgia, for GEL 3,196,546 ($1.9 million) in June 2014.
Established in 2006, Express Technologies Group owns a number of software and customized hardware development companies and is a shareholder of Georgian Card.
Express Technologies also owns 100% of Direct Debit Georgia LLC, a nationwide self-service terminals network operator and Metro Service Plus LLC, a company that runs Tbilisi city transport Automated Fare Collection System since 2006.
Card Issuers in Georgia – Overview
The Georgian banks issue credit cards, charge cards, debit cards and prepaid cards in combination with bank accounts. Addressing the specific needs of personal banking and business banking, the card portfolio is composed of consumer cards, business cards and corporate cards.
Dedicated card products are offered for the individual client segments: families, millennials, students, affluent clients, small business clients, corporate clients and even basic account clients. The credit cards offered range from classic cards to gold cards and platinum cards.
15 banks in Georgia issue payment cards. In 2024, the leading card issuers are Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, and ProCredit Bank. Other major issuers include Cartu Bank and TeraBank.
The Georgian retail banks issue debit cards branded Maestro or Electron, and delayed debit cards and credit cards branded Mastercard or VISA. Bank of Georgia issues American Express cards. Liberty Bank issues UnionPay cards (2015+) and its domestic PAY debit cards.
Table 6 illustrates the card brands issued by the Georgian issuer banks as at mid-2024.
| 6 - Leading Card Issuers in Georgia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Issuers | Issued Card Brands | Owned by |
| Bank of Georgia | Mastercard, VISA, AmExp; Electron | Georgia Capital: 19.71%, BlackRock: 5.0%, other investors: 75.29% |
| TBC Bank Group | Mastercard, VISA; Debit Mastercard, Electron | two founding investors (GE): 15.8%, EBRD: 3.0%, IFC 2.8%, Other investors: 78.4% |
| Liberty Bank | Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay; PAY | Georgian Financial Group: 74.38%, Liberty Bank 18.43%, Other investors: 7.2% |
| ProCredit Bank | Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit | ProCredit Holding (D): 100% |
| Cartu Bank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Cartu Group (GE): 100% |
| TeraBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private Investors (UAE) |
| BasisBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron; UnionPay | Hualing Group (China): 92,78%, Georgian interests |
| other banks | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private investors |
| Note: In October 2017 Liberty Bank was acquired by European Financial Group B.V. (EFG) | ||
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | ||
| Source: PCM research | ||
Outlook – By mid-2024, Georgian card issuers face the following notable challenges:
- Rollout of online/mobile bank payment services combined with mobile apps
- Implementation of 3D-Secure 2.0; launch of digital wallets, in-app payments, in-store payments
- Competition from card-less payment service providers: PISPs, AISPs, FinTechs
- Tokenisation security combined with HCE NFC and card credentials stored-on-file
- Open Banking ecosystem and demanded access to card accounts (XS2A)
Card Processing and PSPs
In Europe, the payment processing industry is composed of card processors, ATM/POS network hub processors, e-/m-payment service processors (PSPs), and specialised processors (e.g. CSM processors, TSM services).
In Georgia, card issuer processing services range from technical issuer processing, including card printing, to full cardholder processing services. They include all types of cards and card technologies allowing for card use at multiple channels (i.e. at ATMs, POS terminals, on the internet and in-store – mobile payments in the future).
Acquirer processing services in the country range from technical acquirer processing, including POS terminal services, to full merchant processing services.
In 2021, there were four card processing centres active in Georgia, including Georgian Card, Union Financial Corporation (UFC), Liberty Bank, and Cartu Bank.
Established in 1997, Union Financial Corporation (UFC) provides processing services to the TBC Bank. UFC is the leading card processor in the country, servicing eight banks and as well Visa and Mastercard payment transactions.
Georgian Card is a leading processor in Georgia. It is connected to the VISA and Mastercard networks and processes domestic and international debit card payments for Bank of Georgia and two other banks.
In June 2014, Bank Republic sold its 42.0% shares owned in the share capital of Georgian Card for GEL 3.2 million to Express Technologies, the bank IT service provider of Bank of Georgia.
Liberty Bank has developed a PCI-DSS compliant in-house processing platform for its 4 million cards, with claimed capacity of over 5 million cards. Its first card processing client, Kor Standard Bank (KSB), was migrated in November 2010; previously its cards issued, 50,000 at the time, were processed by Georgian Card.
PAY.ge is a payment portal, which allows Georgians to pay utility bills and more than 300 foreign and Georgian service providers. The PAY.ge payment gateway accepts payments from merchants through a unified interface from a variety of payment channels and instruments. As of 2021, Liberty said that PAY.ge was engaged in merchant acquiring for up to 183 clients, including retailers, telcos, banks and online stores and service and content providers.
Through the PAY.ge payment gateway, participating merchants can accept payments from any VISA, Mastercard and UnionPay cards, local PAY cards (currently comprising Smartivi and Gift Card issued by Liberty Bank) and the bank’s eMoney digital wallet, via SMS, internet, Facebook, POS terminals and cash payment terminals.
Online Payment Service Processors (PSPs)
Online payment service processors (PSPs) are specialised technical processors for all kind of secure online payments and mobile payments. Some of them also offer virtual PSP platform services (VPSP) for bank acquirers who want to take advantage of a kind of ‘internet network processor’.
Online shops of merchants are directly connected by an API interface or a hosted payment page either to the internet payment gateway of a bank acquirer, or they are connected to multi-acquirers through a PSP.
PSPs usually partner with more than one card acquirer and payment initiation service providers. Core services offered by PSPs may include payment gateways to card acquirers and other online payment service providers, online payment processing, risk management services, and collection services for merchants.
Security technologies applied to ensure secure online card payments include EMV tokenisation and strong 3D-Secure (MCSC, VbV, SafeKey) combined with one-time tokens. For card-less payment services, the security technologies applied include userID/password combined with one-time tokens and online banking access with one-time TAN.
All processors in Georgia are active as PSPs and PSP gateways. In addition, I Pay, GeoPay and TBC Pay act as PSPs in the country.
Acquiring and Acceptance
In Europe, most acquirers offer multi-channel card acceptance and value-added merchant services at POS terminals, mobile MPOS terminals and online shops. The leading acquirers usually offer their services cross-border.
In addition, innovative acquirers also offer the acceptance of card-less payment services based on partner agreements with the issuer of those payment services (e.g. account-based payments, wallets, prepaid products).
Most acquirers either operate their own acquirer systems and ATM/POS/MPOS network service hubs, or they use the processing services of external processors. In order to service online merchants in Europe, they might operate their own PSP processing platforms or they co-operate with one or more specialised online payment service processors (PSPs).
From 2012, Eurasian acquirers compete in their home markets, cross-border in the CIS region, cross-channel at POS terminals and servicing online merchants. From 2016, innovative acquirers started to offer omni-channel and multi-payment acceptance.
By mid-2024, omni-channel acceptance includes the ability to service all channels (i.e. POS/MPOS terminals, mobile in-store, online shops, in-app), and to accept multiple payment means in all of these channels. Multi-payment services demanded by merchants include cards, online bank payments, online wallets, digital wallets, and prepaid products.
Outlook – By mid-2024, Georgian acquirers face the following notable challenges:
- Rollout of contactless and virtual POS/MPOS terminals; Interchange++
- Competition from pan-regional and global acquirers; M&A consolidation
- Complete acquirer service portfolio beyond cards, i.e. acceptance of card-less payment services
- Omni-channel payment acceptance: POS/MPOS, online, mobile in-app, mobile in-store
- Cross-border competition, omni-channel competition, finding PSP partners and PISP partners
- New security standards: e.g. 3D-Secure 2.0; tokenisation security, Strong Customer Authentication
Georgian banks renew their growth momentum in acceptance networks. Fifteen banks in Georgia accept payment cards.
Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank and TeraBank are the leading Georgian acquirers. They all acquire Mastercard and VISA brands.
Bank of Georgia is the exclusive American Express acquirer and started JCB acquiring (2018). In 2010, Bank of Georgia signed a merchant and ATM acquiring agreement with Diners Club. Liberty Bank is the acquirer of PAY debit cards and UnionPay cards.
TBC Pay is one of the leading payment companies in Georgia, which connects consumers and merchants to conduct digital payment transactions and is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Bank. TBC Pay serves more than a million users. In 2019, it launched the TBC Pay mobile app. In 2021, TBC enabled merchants to process e-commerce payments by generating a payment link through a dedicated platform and sending the link to the customer. Upon clicking the link, the client then chooses a suitable payment option: any bank’s mobile or internet banking, QR payment through TBC’s mobile bank, Apple Pay, or payment with the loyalty program Ertguli points. TBC reported a 45.11% market share by volume of POS transactions in its terminals. In 2023, TBC Pay recorded payments transaction volume worth GEL 10.2 billion, a 26% increase from 2022. By the end of 2022, the number of registered users who use the TBC Pay app reached 396,000, while the number of active users stood at 64,000.
Table 7 illustrates the card brands accepted by the Georgian acquirers as of mid-2024.
| 7 - Leading Acquirers in Georgia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Acquirers | Acceptance Brands offered | Owned by |
| Bank of Georgia | Mastercard, VISA, AmExp, Diners; Electron, UnionPay, JCB | Georgia Capital: 19.71%, BlackRock: 5.0%, other investors: 75.29% |
| TBC Bank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | two founding investors (GE): 15.8%, EBRD: 3.0%, IFC 2.8%, Other investors: 78.4% |
| Liberty Bank | Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay; Electron, PAY | Georgian Financial Group: 74.38%, Liberty Bank 18.43%, Other investors: 7.2% |
| TeraBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private Investors (UAE) |
| other acquirer banks | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private investors |
| Note: all acquirers have own PSP services or co-operate with PSP partners. | ||
| Note: In 2018, CapitalBank ATMs began accepting UnionPay cards | ||
ATM Terminal Infrastructure
Accepted card brands at most Georgian ATMs are debit cards (PAY, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA Debit, and Electron) and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay). Accepted card brands at ATMs also include Cirrus, Plus and Pulse. The EMV migration of ATM terminals is complete.
National Bank of Georgia, the central bank, reported 2,846 ATMs at end-2023, down by 1.93% from 2022. In 2023, there were 108.69 million cash withdrawals on cards (+6.55% from 2022) with the total value GEL 43.61 billion (+11.55% from 2022). The ATV per cash withdrawal accounted for an average of GE 398.11 (+39.33% vs 2022), and there were 3,182.7 cash withdrawals on cards per ATM per year.
| 8 - ATMs in Georgia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| ATM Terminals | 2,531 | 2,693 | 2,821 | 2,902 | 2,846 | -1.93% | 4.17% |
| Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month | 2,593.4 | 2,440.3 | 2,653.2 | 2,929.4 | 3,182.7 | 8.65% | 4.73% |
| Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m) | 78.77 | 78.86 | 89.82 | 102.01 | 108.69 | 6.55% | 9.10% |
| - on domestic cards (m) | 75.62 | 77.53 | 87.91 | 99.37 | 106.38 | 7.06% | 9.52% |
| - on foreign cards (m) | 3.14 | 1.34 | 1.91 | 2.64 | 2.31 | -12.50% | -3.98% |
| Value of ATM cash withdrawals (GELm) | 20,466.7 | 22,265.6 | 29,435.5 | 39,096.7 | 43,611.0 | 11.55% | 20.10% |
| - on domestic cards (GELm) | 19,095.6 | 21,583.9 | 28,392.5 | 37,593.3 | 42,351.3 | 12.66% | 20.97% |
| - on foreign cards (GELm) | 1,371.1 | 681.7 | 1,043.0 | 1,503.3 | 1,259.7 | -16.21% | 2.70% |
| ATV per cash withdrawal (domestic) (GEL) | 252.51 | 278.41 | 322.99 | 378.32 | 398.11 | 5.23% | 10.45% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Georgia | 680.9 | 722.3 | 764.8 | 776.7 | 770.3 | -0.82% | 4.33% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EA10 total | 728.9 | 713.6 | 698.7 | 679.4 | 706.3 | 3.96% | -0.17% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
Among individual banks, Bank of Georgia had 1,030 ATMs at the end-2023, more than a third of the Georgian ATM network, while Liberty Bank had 631 ATMs in 2023. The enlarged TBC Bank had 774 ATMs including partner bank ATMs at end-2021. VTB had 66 ATMs.
In July 2018, BS/2, a Lithuanian banking solutions provider, and the crypto ATM manufacturer Cryptomat, said that they planned to install about 20 ATMs in Georgian cities with the function of buying bitcoins and litecoins by end-2018.
According to the World Bank, Georgia is the world’s third largest miner of cryptocurrencies, and up to 5% of households in the country are engaged in cryptocurrency mining or investments. As of 2021, there were 39 bitcoin ATMs in and around the capital, Tbilisi.
POS Terminal Infrastructure
Accepted card brands at most Georgian POS terminals are debit cards (PAY, Debit Mastercard, Maestro, VISA Debit, and Electron), and credit cards (Mastercard, VISA, American Express, Diners, Discover, JCB, and UnionPay). The EMV migration of POS terminals is complete.
National Bank of Georgia, the central bank, reported 123,559 POS terminals, up by 17.22% from 2022. In 2023, POS payments in Georgia with domestic and foreign cards were 722.28 million (+36.30% Vs 2022) with a total value GEL 27.44 billion (+37.12% Vs 2022) amounting to 487.1 POS payments per POS terminal per month (+14.57% on 2022). The ATV per card payment at POS terminals was on average GEL 36.02, up 3.68% from 2022.
| 9 - POS Terminals in Georgia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| POS and payment terminals | 63,388 | 73,911 | 89,527 | 105,404 | 123,559 | 17.22% | 22.74% |
| - thereof in shops and service outlets | 61,975 | 72,713 | 88,364 | 104,269 | 122,460 | 17.45% | 23.35% |
| - thereof in bank branches and kiosks | 1,413 | 1,198 | 1,163 | 1,135 | 1,099 | -3.17% | -5.66% |
| Ø Number of TXs per POS per month | 345.1 | 334.1 | 367.4 | 425.2 | 487.1 | 14.57% | 6.90% |
| Number of POS payments (m) | 262.51 | 296.33 | 394.68 | 537.80 | 722.28 | 34.30% | 31.22% |
| - on domestic cards (m) | 251.58 | 291.95 | 382.30 | 515.00 | 697.98 | 35.53% | 31.43% |
| - on foreign cards (m) | 10.92 | 4.38 | 12.38 | 22.80 | 24.30 | 6.56% | 25.78% |
| Value of POS payments (GELm) | 9,331.4 | 10,603.0 | 15,438.5 | 20,012.0 | 27,440.4 | 37.12% | 32.84% |
| - on domestic cards (GELm) | 8,013.4 | 10,180.2 | 14,220.3 | 17,891.7 | 25,141.8 | 40.52% | 35.04% |
| - on foreign cards (GELm) | 1,318.0 | 422.8 | 1,218.2 | 2,120.4 | 2,298.6 | 8.40% | 17.32% |
| ATV per POS payment (domestic) (GEL) | 31.85 | 34.87 | 37.20 | 34.74 | 36.02 | 3.68% | 2.74% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - Georgia | 17,054.0 | 19,822.7 | 24,271.3 | 28,210.0 | 33,443.1 | 18.55% | 22.94% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - EA10 total | 15,041.9 | 17,946.5 | 19,042.0 | 21,172.0 | 23,259.9 | 9.86% | 12.48% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
In 2023, Bank of Georgia had 39,620 POS terminals, up 13.58% from 2022, with 54.9% of total POS payment transactions in Georgia in 2022 executed in the bank’s POS and e-commerce terminals. Payment transactions worth GEL 14.96 billion were processed through the Bank of Georgia’s POS and E-commerce terminals in 2023. Bank of Georgia had 18,335 contracted merchants in 2023, up 36% from 2022, while there were 596 (2022: 467) active e-commerce merchants.
MPOS Terminals – Small and mobile merchants have started to use their smartphones and tablet PCs as mini-POS+ECR devices with added chip reader dongle. Also, merchants can initiate MOTO-like card payments on smartphones and tablets by downloading a payment app.
In December 2012, Square clones like iZettle, SumUp and others have launched their services in Europe and are expected to support Georgian merchants in the future. In 2015, Liberty Bank launched EasyPAY tablet-based merchant POS terminals.
From November 2015, startup goSwiff partnered TBC Bank to launch a contactless MPOS terminal service for Georgian merchants, including mobile application, merchant reward programs, consumer loyalty tools and product catalogues. Georgian merchants can manage, display and track product items and create promotions on their online portal.
According to the NBG, as of 2022, there were over 8,000 mPOS terminals in use in Georgia.
TBC introduced an Android POS solution in 2021, with the bank reporting over 100 active Android POS terminals.
In 2021, Bank of Georgia launched a new Android EFT POS terminal with additional capabilities as an alternative to a standard POS terminal, enabling merchants to install additional applications, including inventory management software, to better run their businesses. It also improved its Soft POS low-cost payments acceptance solution for smaller-scale businesses. Bank of Georgia also a BNPL payments product for online purchases, introduced P2P payments in the Viber messaging platform, implemented online settlement and started developing an advanced merchant portal to support businesses with better analytics and business management tools.
In December 2022, TBC Bank launched the Tap2Phone solution for small and micro merchants allowing them to use Android-based mobile devices for card acceptance through NFC technology, a cheaper alternative of a POS terminal. The Bank plans a full-scale roll-out of this product in 2023 to penetrate the small and micro-segments and increase the number of merchant terminals.
Remote Internet Payments – Cards & More
Georgia is a small emerging e-commerce market in Eurasia with people shopping online more frequently.
Georgia’s Ministry of Economy and Sustainable Development (MoESD) is currently engaged in developing a draft law on e-commerce. Furthermore, Turkey, Azerbaijan, and Georgia signed a deal on June 1, 2017 to assist their small- and medium-sized enterprises in securing easier access to the global e-commerce market.
According to GeoStat, in 2022, 23.8% of the Georgian population made e-commerce purchases, while the share of e-commerce businesses was 2.9%. In 2022, 47% of e-commerce purchases were made within Georgia, followed by EU countries at 14.9%.
With the development of local retailers’ online platforms in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic, e-commerce spending is projected to grow significantly over the next few years. However, the e-commerce penetration rate in Georgia is very low, at under 2% of total retail sales, far from the double-digit averages in developed markets in Europe.
Within e-commerce, mobile commerce was projected to grow by around 25% to reach GEL 35.7 million by the end of 2021, from GEL 28.7 million in 2020.
According to the NBG, in 2023, Georgian card-based e-commerce payments totalled 197.08 million transactions for GEL 14.61 billion in value, while 77% of total operations in terms of volume and 74% in terms of value were performed inside the country.
Internet Use – In 2023, around 78.7% of Georgians used the internet.
Online buyers use their PCs, notebooks, tablets, or smartphones. Thus, remote payments are initiated from various types of internet-capable devices. In 2022, 99% of internet users aged 15 years and older, who used internet within the last three months, have used a mobile device (mobile phone, laptop, tablet, etc.) to connect to the wireless Internet.
Cards on the Internet (CNP) – All cards with international brands are accepted in Georgian online shops after the merchant has signed an acceptance contract. Innovative banks plan to issue prepaid cards and virtual cards for internet use only.
Leading online shops in Georgia offer remote payments on cards based on security standards like SSL with CVC2/CVV2 code and 3D-Secure (Mastercard SecureCode, Verified-by-VISA). Further, web-based MOTO services are offered to Georgian merchants by their acquirers.
Internet transactions in Georgia on Georgian-issued cards were restated by the central bank for 2011 and 2012. For 2023, the total was 197.08 million transactions on cards, amounting to GEL 14,608.8 million, with the average transaction value at GEL 74.13.
| 10 - Remote Payments on Georgian Cards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of transactions (000s) | 43,789.7 | 54,810.9 | 81,696.5 | 89,924.3 | 114,805.6 | 197,080.4 | 71.66% | 35.10% |
| Value of transactions (GELm) | 2,687.2 | 3,501.2 | 4,754.8 | 6,494.3 | 8,158.0 | 14,608.8 | 79.07% | 40.30% |
| ATV per remote payment (GEL) | 61.37 | 63.88 | 58.20 | 72.22 | 71.06 | 74.13 | 4.32% | 3.85% |
| Note: figures from 2018 onwards have been restated. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
The Georgian e-Payment Mix – In 2024, remote payments offered by merchants in online shops were dominated by cards, PayPal, online bank transfers and cash-on-delivery. In April 2013, PayPal launched its payment service in the country.
Remote Payments on the Mobile Internet – Since 2013, online buyers have used their smartphones for shopping on the mobile internet. Mobile online shops can be accessed by mobile internet, by mobile app, or by scanning a 2D QR-code displayed, for example, in a newspaper or at a bus station. Thus, remote mobile payments are executed by either using the e-payment page of the mobile shop or by using payment apps of a PSP or an acquirer.
Also, Georgian merchants can download a payment app from their acquirer in order to initiate MOTO payments with cards and/or online direct debits. Leading Georgian merchants are believed to consider their own mobile apps in the future – including loyalty functions (e.g. e-vouchers, discounts, outlet finder, QR-code scanning).
Mobile Payments – Overview
In 2023, around 113% of Georgians have subscribed to a mobile phone, 80.2% of whom own a smartphone. Tablet penetration is growing from a very low level.
Since 2012, the next generation of mobile services and payments has included new disruptive technologies (1D-barcodes, QR-code, Bluetooth BLE and NFC).
Mobile initiatives in Georgia trial new technologies either as initiating form factors to bridge to online shops on the internet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, NFC) or to enable contactless access to the retail POS outlet (1D-barcodes, QR-code, BLE, Bluetooth Low Energy, NFC Stickers, Mobile NFC Phones) e.g.:
- To enable access to online shops for any type of mobile devices (e.g. tablets, iPhones, Androids)
- To enable mobile services and payments initiated by consumers’ tablets or smartphones at ATMs, at vending machines, at smart posters and at POS terminals in retail outlets
- To enable small merchants’ tablets and smartphones by adding MPOS terminal devices for payment services.
The Georgian m-Payment Mix – There are no official m-payment mix statistics, but PSP information indicates that the domestic m-payment mix is similar to the e-payment mix (see Remote Payments on the Internet section).
Mobile Payment Initiatives
In 2024, the various European mobile payment initiatives can be grouped into
- Non-bank players like FinTechs, payment initiation service provider (PISPs), and account information service providers (AISPs) launch digital payment services beyond cards
- Innovative banks which launch mobile banking apps allowing for card-less in-app payments and payments on the internet
- Leading banks which pilot mobile HCE NFC payments with the card credentials stored-on-file in the cloud (HCE)
- Banks partnering with mobile network operators in order to offer mobile SIM SE NFC payments on cards with the card credentials stored in a secure element on SIM card of the mobile device
- Innovative retailers which offer their own apps with loyalty and payment functions to their consumers
Mastercard reported in August 2011 to be in talks with Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, Cartu Bank, ProCredit Bank Georgia, and TaoPrivatBank about rolling out an NFC service for contactless transactions at POS, as well as a remote mobile payments platform. No subsequent update was provided.
Wallet One in Georgia – In December 2014, Georgia became the first country in the South Caucasus, to launch Wallet One (W1) an international payment system with multi-currency e-wallet, via a franchise model.
According to W1, the product is available on web interface and mobile applications (both for iOS and Android). It provides a country-adapted interface, meets all requirements of the national regulations, and supports all key features of the W1 international payment system. As of 2022, there were over 12 million users and 40,000 online merchants
Via the e-wallet, Georgian users can pay more than 10,000 service providers, adjust automatic recurring payments, and provide P2P money transfers to friends and family. The product supports over 100 methods of topping up the wallet and money withdrawal. The users can also perform convert operation between Georgian lari and seven other currencies. To register an e-wallet account it is enough to indicate just an e-mail address or mobile phone number.
Mobile HCE NFC Payments – In October 2015, VTB Bank Georgia launched its mobile HCE NFC mobile payment service, Mobile Pay, in partnership with VISA and solution provider PriNum. The service enabled customers to make payments by tapping their device against any contactless POS terminal accepting VISA PayWave.
In June 2016, VTB Bank added Mastercard cards to its mobile HCE NFC payment service.
In September 2019, the Bank of Georgia, VTB Bank, Liberty Bank, and TBC Bank launched Apple Pay, making Georgia the first country in the Caucasus region to launch the service. 12 banks now support Apple Pay in Georgia.
According to the NBG, the growing contactless infrastructure helped mobile app payments reach more than 100 million in 2021.
Central Bank Digital Currencies (CDBC) – The Digital Cash Challenge
Central bank digital currency (CBDC), also called digital fiat currency or digital base money, is a digital currency issued by a national central bank (NCB), rather than by a commercial bank. It is also a liability of the NCB and denominated in the sovereign currency, as is the case with physical bank notes and coins.
All CBDCs are under the authority of the respective national central bank, and they are part of the domestic cash payment ecosystem. Rather than a new currency, CBDC is a form of central bank electronic money that could be used by households and businesses to make payments. In addition, most CBDC implementations will likely not use or need any sort of distributed ledger such as a blockchain.
Unlike “retail CBDC,” which is generally designed as a central bank liability universally accessible to individuals and businesses within a jurisdiction’s financial system, “wholesale CBDC” refers to a digitized central bank liability designed for sizable (generally interbank) transactions, and for which access is limited to certain financial institutions.
National Central Banks (NCBs) have been providing trusted money to the public for hundreds of years as part of their public policy objectives. Trusted money is a public good. It offers a common unit of account, store of value and medium of exchange for the sale of goods and services and settlement of financial transactions. Providing cash for public use is an important tool for central banks. Yet the world is changing.
Even before COVID-19, cash use for payments was declining fast and convenient digital payments have grown enormously in volume and diversity. To evolve and pursue their public policy objectives in a digital world, central banks are actively researching the pros and cons of offering a digital currency to the public, a “general purpose” CBDC.
Central banks’ interest in CBDC has increased as a potential means of delivering their public policy objectives. Profound, ongoing changes across finance, technology, and society, as well as the recent COVID-19 crisis, provided additional impetus for the research of, and experimentation related to, CBDCs.
CBDC is a national digital currency issued by the central bank that is expected to replace or coexist with fiat money and hold the same value. Mobile money, on the other hand, utilises existing commercial banking-based accounting to manage customer wallet balances based on an exchange with cash or lines of credit and loans.
CBDC is a direct liability on the central bank as it is the main issuer of the currency, whereas digital money is the liability of commercial banks and other authorised financial institutions using funds on account. Although some implementation approaches propose that CBDC can be implemented in either an indirect or hybrid form, its liability remains on the respective national central bank.
Unregulated Cryptocurrency Products – Background
Regulators and national central banks are challenged by unregulated independent cryptocurrency products. Whereas CBDCs are under the authority of the central bank, almost all cryptocurrencies are decentralised, and not controlled or managed by any central authority.
Obviously, financial market authorities and the national central banks are not in favour of unregulated cryptocurrency products and see them as a systematic risk for the financial system. Their intention to regulate the respective cryptocurrency exchange platforms has gained momentum.
Cryptocurrencies, originally designed as a store of value, are digital assets, developed and maintained on decentralised blockchains, and they can be used as a medium of exchange or payment method. Bitcoin and Ethereum are the most popular forms of cryptocurrencies worldwide used by consumers and businesses for transactions.
As of 2022, over 400 million people worldwide used cryptocurrencies, with merchants and businesses in more sectors accepting it as a form of payment. The major payment schemes VISA and Mastercard, PayPal and along with a growing number of financial institutions, have launched services allowing consumers to purchase or use cryptocurrencies for a range of applications.
According to a 2022 Deloitte survey, around two-thirds (64%) of surveyed merchants indicated that their customers have significant interest in using digital currencies for payments, and 83% expect consumer interest in digital currencies for payments to increase or significantly increase over the next 12 months.
In addition, merchants are motivated by the prospect of enabling immediate access to funds (40% of respondents), taking advantage of blockchain-based innovations in decentralised digital finance (39%), and allowing in-house management of the revenue cycle/treasury/finance department (39%).
Over half (54%) of large retailers (with revenues of $500 million and up) have invested more than $1 million on enabling digital currency payments, while only 6% of small retailers (with revenues of under $10 million) did so.
A 2022 survey from Checkout.com found a sharp rise in people wanting to use cryptocurrencies as a means of payment, with 40% of 18-35-year-old consumers citing their desire to experiment with using crypto as a payment method, up from less than 30% in 2021. Meanwhile, over 80% of businesses say offering crypto has attracted new customers, led to a decrease in chargebacks, while just over 60% have seen higher authorisation rates accepting crypto payments.
Current estimates put cryptocurrency ownership in Europe at around 18 million people.
Cryptocurrencies and Georgia
Georgia is ranked second in the world for cryptocurrency mining. As of 2021, 2.89% (115,000 people) of Georgia’s population owned some form of cryptocurrency, ranking Georgia 29th in the world for cryptocurrency ownership.
In April 2022, the NBG announced plans to regulate the country’s crypto market, which has monthly transactions of up to GEL 5 million. By June 2023, the NBG issued a new regulation for Virtual Asset Service Providers (VASP) which includes rules for registering virtual asset service providers, compliance procedures, and preventing money laundering.
Market Size and Dynamics
Cards in Issue
Cards issued have more than doubled since the low points of 2008 and 2010, when issuance was subdued in the wake of the Russian invasion and subsequent harsher economic times.
There was a total of 8.81 million cards (+12.71% from 2022), and the per capita figure reached 2.38 in 2023, up by 13.98% from 2022. Debit cards accounted for 93.73% of the total card base, and credit cards for the balance. This appears to be a recovery from the decline in overall card numbers following the 2015 liquidation of “PrivatBank” by the Bank of Georgia, along with a tightening of bank lending capitalisation requirements by the NBG.
| 11 - Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| Cards with a cash function | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Cards with a payment function | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| - thereof debit cards | 6,725.1 | 6,100.1 | 6,320.9 | 6,284.8 | 7,246.7 | 8,258.1 | 13.96% | 4.19% |
| - thereof credit cards | 746.1 | 626.6 | 561.8 | 585.5 | 570.8 | 552.8 | -3.14% | -5.82% |
| Total | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Payment cards per capita - Georgia | 2.01 | 1.81 | 1.85 | 1.86 | 2.09 | 2.38 | 13.98% | 3.51% |
| Payment cards per capita - EA10 total | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.65 | 1.82 | 2.09 | 2.42 | 15.79% | 11.57% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
According to NBG, in 2022, VISA cards and Mastercard cards amounted to 31% and 52% of the total issued cards, respectively. The share of American Express cards and UnionPay cards reached 2%. The share of local cards amounted to 7% of the total cards issued. Debit cards accounted for 93.73% of all issued cards as of 2023.
Card Fraud
Card fraud is one of the most fascinating aspects of the payments industry, not least because it is relentless and mutating. EMV implementation and 3D-Secure, combined with Strong Customer Authentication (SCA), have done much to reduce domestic losses from lost and stolen cards in Europe. However, the war against fraud losses and the changing face of fraud continues to be a threat to the payments industry, including Georgia.
The global card fraud challenges are Card-Not-Present fraud (CNP), cross-border fraud and counterfeiting on non-EMV cards. CNP fraud accounted for 80% of the total value of card fraud losses in 2020. From 2017, a new payment fraud category are fraud losses on contactless card payments. International card fraud continues to be smaller in scale than domestic card abuse but is proportionately far more common. And of course, fraudulent cross-border transactions on cards continue to grow on all purchase channels.
Losses from card fraud on the internet and cross-border fraud on domestic cards have grown significantly. Following EMV implementation, card fraud has moved increasingly to countries where POS terminals or online shops have not yet been migrated to EMV and SCA, respectively, and to cross-border fraud with compromised cards.
The breakdown of card fraud losses by method of compromise already indicates the importance of distinguishing between domestic and cross-border fraud losses. The method of compromise covers the means by which fraudsters obtain payment cards or card details. Notable methods of compromise in a complex payment world are CNP fraud based on theft of card credentials and card lost and stolen fraud followed by growing ID fraud and by cross-counterfeit fraud.
The main method of compromise responsible for losses in many European countries is now the theft of card credentials. A high proportion of these card fraud losses are caused by the growth in e-commerce, and still the lack of use of Strong Customer Authentication methods such as 3D-Secure.
In a post data-breach world, identity information, payment credentials, account credentials and responses to security questions are widely available for purchase in bulk. Complete fraud exploits and zero-day attacks are also easily available on the black market for outright purchase or as a hosted / fully managed service.
In the digital payments world and having the changing face of fraud in mind, there are significant challenges for card issuing banks, payment service providers and their supporting processors.
According to the NBG, in 2021, the card fraud losses in Georgia continued to be low.
As most POS card transactions are authorized online-to-issuer, acquirer fraud rates in Georgia are under control except for offline vending machines, e-commerce and other hotspots.
Credit card fraud prevention measures taken have been pushing 3D-Secure, updating bank fraud prevention systems and real-time-scoring, implementing more rule-based fraud control mechanisms. Also, issuers offer PIN selection at ATMs and SMS notification to inform cardholders about the use of their credit card.
In mid-2019, a consortium of countries led by the United States, and including Georgia, Germany, Moldova and the Ukraine, acted to take down the “Goznym” criminal gang, based partly in Georgia, which had been responsible for fraud of around $100 million across 41,000 Russian-language social media and banking accounts. As a result of their role in laundering the proceeds of the Goznym network through correspondent banking relationships, Danske Bank and Credit Suisse were both fined and reprimanded by the respective market authorities in their countries.
In its 2021 annual report, the NBG said it was working with commercial banks to develop appropriate anti-fraud mechanisms to prevent fraudulent card transactions and cyber-attacks on internet banking.
Card Use
ATM withdrawals in Georgia have shown uninterrupted growth, with a CAGR of 9.10% for the five years to end-2023. The value of withdrawals has kept pace with the number of transactions, with an average ATV of GEL 326.07 for cash withdrawals at ATMs.
The trend in POS payments at merchant outlets has shown a strong growth trajectory in recent years, with numbers and values reaching new record levels in 2022 when payments reached GEL 27.44 billion compared to GEL 20.01 billion in 2022. The ATV of payments in banks in 2022 was GEL 36.02 ($11.91) compared with GEL 37.20 ($13.71) for payments to merchants.
In 2023, National Bank of Georgia reported 823.3 million transactions with Georgian cards, of which 101.4 million were ATM withdrawals, giving ATM withdrawals a share of 12.32% (2018: 29.22%) in total transactions. In terms of value, NBG reported total transactions of GEL 64.97 billion, of which withdrawals were GEL 39.83 billion, a rise of 11.51% from 2022.
| 12 - Transactions with Georgian Cards | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of ATM transactions (m) | 73.4 | 73.9 | 82.8 | 94.5 | 101.4 | 7.32% | 8.50% |
| Value of ATM transactions (GEL m) | 18,848.3 | 21,042.5 | 27,100.7 | 35,721.9 | 39,833.6 | 11.51% | 19.44% |
| Number of payments in banks (m) | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.28 | 0.24 | 0.19 | -19.94% | -17.73% |
| Value of payments in banks (GEL m) | 105.4 | 105.6 | 98.4 | 85.8 | 87.9 | 2.38% | -5.82% |
| Number of payments to merchants (m) | 249.9 | 310.7 | 391.2 | 526.0 | 721.7 | 37.22% | 34.68% |
| Value of payments to merchants (GEL m) | 8,159.6 | 10,808.4 | 15,066.1 | 17,647.3 | 25,054.1 | 41.97% | 35.92% |
| Total transactions (m) | 323.7 | 385.0 | 474.3 | 620.7 | 823.3 | 32.64% | 28.96% |
| Total transactions (GEL m) | 27,113.3 | 31,956.5 | 42,265.2 | 53,455.1 | 64,975.5 | 21.55% | 24.29% |
| Card transactions per capita | 87.1 | 103.3 | 128.6 | 166.1 | 222.8 | 34.14% | 29.17% |
| Note: figures cover issuing transactions in Georgia made with domestic cards; payments in banks include bank branches and kiosks. | |||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
Card Payments in Georgia have shown a high compound annual growth rate of 35.41% in the last five years.
In January 2020, VISA announced that Georgia was the global leader in adopting contactless payment, with 95% of payment transactions conducted with contactless technology.
In 2023, there were 793.20 million payments on Georgian cards (+37.68% Vs 2022) with the total value GEL 32.20 billion (+41.88% Vs 2022) giving 90.0 payments per card per year (+22.15% Vs 2022). The ATV per domestic card payment rose to average GEL 34.83, up by 3.34% from 2021.
| 13 - Payments with Georgian Cards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Cards with a payment function (000s) | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Ø payments per card per year | 23.3 | 40.0 | 48.8 | 61.7 | 73.7 | 90.0 | 22.15% | 31.02% |
| Ø payment value (GEL) per card per year | 920.1 | 1501.5 | 1823.0 | 2573.4 | 2903.3 | 3654.9 | 25.89% | 31.77% |
| Number of payments (m) | 174.21 | 269.32 | 335.53 | 424.12 | 576.13 | 793.20 | 37.68% | 35.41% |
| - with Georgian cards in Georgia (m) | 163.35 | 250.29 | 311.04 | 391.47 | 526.19 | 721.89 | 37.19% | 34.61% |
| - with Georgian cards abroad (m) | 10.85 | 19.03 | 24.49 | 32.65 | 49.94 | 71.31 | 42.79% | 45.72% |
| Value of payments (GELm) | 6,873.9 | 10,100.1 | 12,546.9 | 17,679.9 | 22,696.3 | 32,202.6 | 41.88% | 36.19% |
| - with Georgian cards in Georgia (GELm) | 5,518.8 | 8,265.0 | 10,914.0 | 15,164.5 | 17,733.2 | 25,141.9 | 41.78% | 35.43% |
| - with Georgian cards abroad (GELm) | 1,355.1 | 1,835.1 | 1,632.9 | 2,515.4 | 4,963.1 | 7,060.7 | 42.26% | 39.11% |
| ATV per card payment (domestic)(GEL) | 33.78 | 33.02 | 35.09 | 38.74 | 33.70 | 34.83 | 3.34% | 0.61% |
| Total card payments per capita | 46.8 | 72.5 | 90.0 | 115.0 | 154.2 | 214.7 | 39.24% | 35.63% |
| Total card payments value (GEL) per capita | 1,846.1 | 2,717.3 | 3,365.0 | 4,793.1 | 6,074.4 | 8,716.1 | 43.49% | 36.40% |
| Note: payments reported do not include internet payments which are shown separately in Table 10 but do include POS transactions in bank branches. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia | ||||||||
Card Use per Capita
In 2023, there were 214.7 card payments per capita, up by 39.24% from 2022. The total card payments value per capita accounted for GEL 8,716.1, up by 43.49% from 2022.
Debit Card Use
In 2023, there were 8.26 million debit cards in circulation (+13.9% from 2022). NBG does not report details on payments and payments value on debit cards.
Most debit cards in Georgia were VISA Classic or Electron, which accounted for 63% of total debit cards at end-2013, however this has fallen to 30.9% at end-2023. In 2008, VISA brands claimed a market share of 82% of cards in Georgia, but Mastercard debit cards (+6.41% Vs 2022) have since gathered strength to reach 50.9% of the total debit cards compared with 9% in 2008.
Other local debit cards were static by number over the period 2006-2009. Finally, more than 220,000 were removed from circulation in June 2010, according the NBG. This had reflected migration of local cards for state pensions to VISA Electron cards.
From 2010, Liberty Bank and other Georgian banks have focused on issuing domestic PAY debit cards. In 2023, PAY cards amounted to 18.3% of the total of debit cards by number. PAY cards in issue in 2023 amounted to 1,507,131, an increase of 45.90% from 2022.
| 14 - Debit Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| VISA/Electron | 1,621.4 | 1,684.6 | 1,940.2 | 2,126.1 | 2,266.4 | 2,550.9 | 12.55% | 9.49% |
| MasterCard | 3,945.6 | 4,075.3 | 3,962.2 | 3,812.9 | 3,947.3 | 4,200.1 | 6.41% | 1.26% |
| PAY cards | 1,158.2 | 340.3 | 418.4 | 345.8 | 1,033.0 | 1,507.1 | 45.90% | 5.41% |
| Total | 6,725.1 | 6,100.1 | 6,320.9 | 6,284.8 | 7,246.7 | 8,258.1 | 13.96% | 4.19% |
| Note: from 2010, many banks have issued domestic PAY cards co-badged with the payfair scheme brand. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
Credit Card Use
In 2023, there were 552,848 credit cards in circulation (-3.14% Vs 2022). NBG does not report details on payments and payments value on credit cards.
The issuance of credit cards rose steadily since 2006 up to 2014. However, in May 2015, the number of issued credit cards declined significantly by 48.5% due to the cancellation of the card portfolio of “Privatbank Georgia” enforced by Bank of Georgia post integration of the banks.
In 2023, VISA branded credit cards still dominate the Georgian market, representing 24.36% of total credit cards issued at end-2023, though down from 75% on 2013. In 2007, VISA brands claimed a market share of 91.3% of cards in Georgia, but Mastercard credit cards (-28.93% from 2022) now account for 12.72% of total credit cards compared with 9% in 2007. The fall in internationally branded credit card numbers is largely due to bank consolidation and tightening of lending criteria by other banks.
| 15 - Credit Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| VISA/Electron | 314.1 | 260.2 | 212.1 | 166.0 | 147.4 | 134.7 | -8.63% | -15.58% |
| MasterCard | 240.0 | 216.2 | 150.4 | 111.9 | 99.0 | 70.3 | -28.93% | -21.77% |
| Other credit cards | 192.0 | 150.2 | 199.3 | 307.5 | 324.4 | 347.8 | 7.22% | 12.62% |
| Total | 746.1 | 626.6 | 561.8 | 585.5 | 570.8 | 552.8 | -3.14% | -5.82% |
| Note: other credit cards refer mainly to American Express cards issued by Bank of Georgia, since November 2009. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
Leading Card Issuers
Bank of Georgia – Bank of Georgia’s total number of issued cards was 1.46 million in 2022, compared to 1.05 million in 2021. In relation to cards, Bank of Georgia had 2.97 million cards in circulation, up 29% from 2021. The number of active loyalty programme members rose 7.7% to 1.5 million customers in 2021. More than 486,000 clients – almost 50% of active loyalty programme members – exchanged PLUS points during 2022 Bank of Georgia has exclusive partnerships with four international payment systems (American Express, Diners Club, Discover and JCB), in addition to partnerships with Visa and Mastercard. In 2021, the bank launched a new debit card, PLUS, together with American Express, their second debit card project worldwide and first in EMEA.
In 2021, Bank of Georgia had 349,000 payroll customers.
| 16 - Bank of Georgia Key Figures | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Branches | 276 | 272 | 211 | 211 | 207 | 189 | -8.70% | -31.52% | -7.29% |
| ATMs | 876 | 933 | 960 | 989 | 1,006 | 1,030 | 2.39% | 17.58% | 3.29% |
| POS terminals | 16,870 | 21,870 | 27,184 | 38,514 | 34,884 | 39,620 | 13.58% | 134.85% | 18.62% |
| - thereof contactless Express Pay terminals | 3,115 | 3,217 | 3,020 | 3,134 | 3,145 | 3,153 | 0.25% | 1.22% | 0.24% |
| Debit cards issued (000s) | 1,630.2 | 1,749.5 | 1,873.4 | 2,114.8 | 2,114.8 | 2,114.8 | 0.00% | 29.72% | 5.34% |
| Credit cards issued (000s) | 547.0 | 395.5 | 264.3 | 175.9 | 175.9 | 175.9 | 0.00% | -67.84% | -20.30% |
| of which American Express cards (000s) | 105.9 | 99.3 | 97.3 | 95.1 | 95.1 | 95.1 | 0.00% | -10.20% | -2.13% |
| Total cards issued (000s) | 2,177.3 | 2,145.1 | 2,137.7 | 2,290.7 | 2,966.4 | 2,966.4 | 0.00% | 36.24% | 6.38% |
| - thereof contactless Express cards (000s) | 914.6 | na | na | na | na | na | na | na | na |
| Retail clients (000s) | 2,440.8 | 2,540.5 | 2,616.5 | 2,721.0 | 2,721.0 | 2,721.0 | 0.00% | 11.48% | 2.20% |
| Active internet banking users | 295,226 | 294,081 | 142,832 | 165,871 | 165,871 | 165,871 | 0.00% | -43.82% | -10.89% |
| Active mobile banking users | 333,698 | 513,677 | 717,599 | 755,147 | 755,147 | 755,147 | 0.00% | 126.30% | 17.74% |
| Internet banking transactions (000s) | 5,892 | 5,302 | 4,219 | 4,025 | 4,025 | 4,025 | 0.00% | -31.69% | -7.34% |
| Mobile banking transactions (000s) | 15,676 | 35,938 | 62,525 | 110,033 | 110,033 | 110,033 | 0.00% | 601.92% | 47.66% |
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | |||||||||
Bank of Georgia’s contactless Express Mastercard cards (see section on Contactless Cards and form-factors) are part of its overall Express Banking strategic initiative, launched in 2012 with the roll-out of small-format, Express branches offering transactional banking services to clients through ATMs and Express Pay Terminals. The Express Banking strategy is designed to make banking relationships simpler, cheaper and more convenient for the bank’s existing customers and for the emerging bankable population.
It also marks Bank of Georgia’s response to the competitive threat posed by TBC and the revitalized Liberty Bank. Existing full-scale branches now focus on offering value-added products, while the technology-intensive Express branches provide basic banking products and services at low operational cost.
In 2013, Bank of Georgia installed 764 new Express Pay Terminals throughout Tbilisi, lifting the year-end total to 985. The terminals enable a variety of payment services, from current account top-ups and loan repayments to utility bill payments and rail ticket purchases. By the end of 2023, there were 3,153 Express Pay terminals serving emerging retail clients.
Liberty Bank had an estimated 4 million debit cards issued as at end-2021, and an estimated 65,000 credit cards at end-2021, up from 14,788 in 2012. Liberty Bank issues debit cards branded PAY and credit cards branded VISA, Mastercard, or UnionPay. In Q3 2017, Liberty Bank was acquired by the European Financial Group B.V. (EFG).
Liberty Bank issues domestic PAY debit cards, PAY prepaid cards, and virtual PAY cards and signs merchants for PAY card acceptance. It has integrated PAY as payment means into its PAY.ge payment gateway.
In 2012, Liberty linked with mobile network operator MagtiCom to launch SmartPay, a mobile banking product designed for any type of handset. MagtiCom subscribers can open a Smartivi account at Liberty Bank, which can then be used to pay utility bills, top up mobile phone balances and transfer and receive funds to and from their eMoney digital wallets linked to SmartPay.
| 17 - Liberty Bank Key Figures | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | Q3 2016 | Q3 2017 | 2018 | GR 17/18 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of branches | 629 | 667 | 697 | 702 | 444 | -36.75% | -5.94% |
| - branches & distribution outlets | 517 | 553 | 583 | 588 | 334 | -43.20% | -7.68% |
| - Express mobile branches | 112 | 114 | 114 | 114 | 110 | -3.51% | 0.93% |
| Customer accounts | 1,412,981 | 1,244,023 | 1,292,053 | 1,346,288 | 1,482,249 | 10.10% | 5.05% |
| Retail accounts (m) | 2.19 | 2.20 | 3.05 | 3.12 | 3.32 | 6.41% | 13.66% |
| Payroll accounts (000s) | 199 | 194 | 184 | 133 | 99 | -25.84% | -13.80% |
| Debit cards issued (000s) | 3,100 | 3,300 | 3,600 | 3,800 | 4,009 | 5.50% | 12.75% |
| Credit cards | 128,559 | 132,346 | 129,494 | 107,255 | 89,055 | -16.97% | 2.19% |
| ATMs | 386 | 425 | 468 | 483 | 527 | 9.11% | 9.03% |
| POS terminals | 1,968 | 2,597 | 2,934 | 2,380 | 1,578 | -33.70% | 1.10% |
| Number of transactions (000s) | 49,967 | 50,000 | 50,500 | 48,000 | 45,675 | -4.84% | -0.49% |
| - via electronic channels (000s) | 14,565 | 19,500 | 27,300 | 26,000 | 24,710 | -4.96% | 14.65% |
| Note: In October 2017 Liberty Bank was acquired by European Financial Group B.V. (EFG) | |||||||
| Note: figures for 2017 are as at end-Q3 2017. Transaction figures for 2016 are as at end-Q3 2016. | |||||||
| Source: Liberty Bank. | |||||||
TBC Bank had 1.6 million cards in issue during 2021, over 90% of which were contactless. TBC Bank offers a diverse range of products from traditional cards to contactless stickers, bracelets and digital cards. Clients can also attach their cards to smartphones or smartwatches and use other payment options such as Apple Pay, TBC wallet or Garmin Pay. In December 2020, TBC Bank enabled customers to pay for public transit with its cards.
In 2016, fees and commissions from card operations rose 30.2% in 2015 to GEL 49.4 million, accounting for 41.7% of the bank’s total fee and commission income. The bank did not report updated card numbers in the debit market for 2018, but claimed 648,551 credit cards at year end 2018, a decrease of 60.97% over 2017.
The bank launched a “MyPayroll” card for salaries in partnership with a number of corporations in August 2018, successfully issuing 48,000 cards under this name; also in 2018, the bank launched an affinity/loyalty card targeted at the student market and claims to have relationships with 48% of Georgia’s current student population through this card.
In 2011, TBC introduced TBC Prime Card, which allows customers to design their own cards and offers an interest-free period of up to three months. Cardholders can choose between two tariffs: either ‘Prime Shop’ if they prefer to pay by card, or ‘Prime Cash’ if they prefer to use cash. In 2011, TBC launched virtual iC@rd cards branded VISA for online only use, with a lower tariff and 50% discounts for students. Also, TBC bank issues NFC PAY stickers branded VISA.
In 2010, TBC launched the TBC Platinum VISA smart card, combining three banking products – a VISA credit card, savings, and current accounts. TBC Platinum cardholders accrue interest on any positive balance on the card each month. Membership of the VISA Platinum club enables the cardholder to enjoy benefits and discounts in hotels and resorts, airlines, travel and spa centres.
In 2021, TBC Pay added international cards to its digital payments channels. Overall, in 2021, the number of payments conducted through digital channels increased by 49% year-on-year, while number of active digital users reached around 51,000.
After entering Tbilisi’s transport payments network in 2020, in 2021 TBC expanded its presence in three other large cities of Georgia – Kutaisi, Gori and Poti. In these cities, customers can now pay using any TBC debit or credit cards, or by dedicated prepaid transport cards issued by TBC. At the end of 2021, the number of active transport cards amounted to 47,100.
| 18 - TBC Bank Key Figures | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of branches | 149 | 157 | 160 | 160 | 129 | 123 | -4.65% | -3.76% |
| ATMs | 497 | 568 | 671 | 620 | 703 | 774 | 10.10% | 9.26% |
| POS terminals | 17,048 | 22,414 | 25,163 | 26,300 | 29,200 | 32,626 | 11.73% | 13.86% |
| Retail accounts | 2,298,966 | 2,486,155 | 2,605,337 | 2,782,000 | 3,043,583 | 3,275,037 | 7.60% | 7.33% |
| Active retail digital users | 495,000 | 575,000 | 656,000 | 744,000 | 800,548 | 920,522 | 14.99% | 13.21% |
| Note: the Bank has 123 (2022: 129; 2021: 147; 2020:149; 2019:148) branches within Georgia in 2023. | ||||||||
| Note: ATM figure for 2021 is as at end-Q1 2022. Atm's including partner banks for 2021 number 1,600. | ||||||||
| Note: mobile banking customers are active users and include "Space" users. | ||||||||
| Source: TBC Bank. | ||||||||
Bank Republic, absorbed by TBC Bank in 2016, reported 93,000 cards issued at end-2007, but gave no subsequent updates. All Bank Republic cards are EMV cards. Bank Republic issued cards branded Maestro, Electron, VISA or Mastercard. In 2013, TBC Bank introduced contactless card technology on all cards with Visa payWave. By end of 2015, 72% of all transactions were contactless.
TeraBank (formerly Kor Standard Bank) offers a range of VISA and Mastercard cards in Classic, Gold, and Platinum segments. It also offers special Junior and Travel cards.
Basisbank is focused on SME and retail accounts, offering a range of VISA, Mastercard, and UnionPay cards.
VTB Bank Georgia – In October 2015, VTB launched mobile HCE NFC payments on VISA cards to its VTM Mobile Pay app. In June 2016, VTB added mobile HCE NFC payment on Mastercard cards to its VTB Mobile Pay app.
HSBC Bank Georgia announced at end June 2009 that it was exiting from the retail sector and would focus exclusively on corporate banking in future. It withdrew from Georgia in 2012. HSBC previously offered the ‘Status’ banking package with VISA Gold cards to customers with an average $40,000 credit balance in their account.
International Money Transfers
The number of Georgians working abroad has been estimated at around 80,000-100,000 as of 2021, although this does not fully reflect the difference between temporary workers abroad and permanent emigrants. The contribution to Georgia’s GDP is put at about 13%.
Georgians abroad sent back $4.12 billion in 2023, down from $4.37billion in 2022, mostly from Russia ($1,526.81 million in 2023), Italy ($518.56 million), USA ($456.39 million), Greece ($243.00 million) and Turkey ($112.81 million). According to the Economic Policy Research Centre, roughly 9% of the population receives remittances, while as much as 20% of the banks’ net income could be from money transfer payments.
As of 2022, Bank of Georgia had over 350,000 active remittance customers among the estimated 1.3 million Georgians living abroad in need of daily banking services.
In terms of cross-border money transfers, Unistream took over market leadership at 29% in 2023 with Zolotaia now in the second position and capturing 19% of the total in 2023. RIA (18%) maintains its third place. Other major players include, MoneyGram, Western Union, and Intel Express that captured 13%, 13%, and10% of the total in 2023, respectively. Most of the other players at best-maintained market share in 2023 compared with 2013.
| 19 - Georgian Money Transfers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Inflow ($m) | 1,442.29 | 1,733.32 | 1,885.98 | 2,349.56 | 4,372.41 | 4,123.05 | -5.70% | 23.38% |
| - of which from Russia | 417.53 | 428.89 | 363.92 | 411.37 | 2,067.84 | 1,526.81 | -26.16% | 29.60% |
| - of which from Italy | 176.02 | 239.17 | 297.61 | 385.74 | 431.61 | 518.56 | 20.15% | 20.99% |
| - of which from USA | 145.21 | 178.41 | 218.36 | 284.30 | 326.99 | 456.39 | 39.57% | 10.85% |
| - of which from Greece | 155.54 | 192.55 | 219.14 | 240.15 | 223.93 | 243.00 | 8.52% | 27.23% |
| - of which from Turkey | 98.36 | 94.85 | 106.81 | 104.48 | 101.01 | 112.81 | 11.69% | 2.78% |
| - of which from Ukraine | 26.14 | 42.92 | 87.53 | 92.70 | 11.04 | 1.12 | -89.81% | -46.71% |
| Outflow ($m) | 229.75 | 237.42 | 264.09 | 316.86 | 343.48 | 343.48 | 0.00% | 8.38% |
| - of which to Russia | 90.38 | 78.56 | 84.14 | 90.46 | 41.22 | 41.98 | 1.83% | -14.22% |
| - of which to Turkey | 24.14 | 34.11 | 51.34 | 71.27 | 72.89 | 76.50 | 4.94% | 25.95% |
| - of which to Ukraine | 25.95 | 26.52 | 25.76 | 29.38 | 45.83 | 33.40 | -27.13% | 5.17% |
| - of which to Greece | 9.60 | 10.05 | 11.34 | 14.25 | 18.91 | 18.24 | -3.57% | 13.68% |
| - of which to Italy | 3.92 | 4.13 | 4.51 | 6.26 | 8.60 | 10.81 | 25.64% | 22.50% |
| - of which to USA | 4.64 | 4.86 | 3.58 | 3.95 | 14.79 | 17.30 | 17.00% | 30.12% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 20 - Georgian Money Transfers by System | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ($m) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| Zolotaia Korona | ||||||||
| Inflow | 349.6 | 364.9 | 320.6 | 438.9 | 1,198.3 | 784.5 | -34.53% | 17.54% |
| shares in total | 22% | 21% | 17% | 19% | 26% | 19% | -25.67% | -2.57% |
| Western Union | ||||||||
| Inflow | 302.0 | 324.7 | 340.3 | 406.6 | 432.3 | 498.4 | 15.31% | 10.54% |
| shares in total | 19% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 11% | 13% | 14.04% | -7.41% |
| Unistream | ||||||||
| Inflow | 195.1 | 155.6 | 125.6 | 140.2 | 1012.3 | 798.5 | -21.11% | 32.56% |
| shares in total | 12% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 20% | 29% | 44.72% | 18.36% |
| Intel Express | ||||||||
| Inflow | 204.8 | 225.7 | 265.4 | 291.4 | 343.2 | 381.0 | 11.00% | 13.22% |
| shares in total | 13% | 13% | 14% | 13% | 9% | 10% | 19.77% | -4.55% |
| Contact | ||||||||
| Inflow | 75.8 | 114.6 | 159.6 | 199.0 | 331.1 | 286.0 | -13.63% | 30.42% |
| shares in total | 5% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 19.12% | 11.03% |
| MoneyGram | ||||||||
| Inflow | 137.3 | 148.1 | 224.0 | 302.3 | 362.0 | 507.3 | 40.15% | 29.87% |
| shares in total | 9% | 9% | 12% | 13% | 9% | 13% | 41.94% | 8.70% |
| RIA | ||||||||
| Inflow | 257.4 | 322.0 | 367.9 | 464.5 | 573.1 | 737.6 | 28.71% | 23.44% |
| shares in total | 16% | 19% | 20% | 20% | 15% | 18% | 25.17% | 2.58% |
| Other Systems | ||||||||
| Inflow | 57.6 | 76.8 | 82.6 | 106.0 | 119.1 | 129.2 | 8.45% | 17.52% |
| shares in total | 4% | 4% | 5% | 6% | 3% | 5% | 48.39% | 4.75% |
| Total Inflow | 1,579.7 | 1,733.3 | 1,886.0 | 2,349.6 | 4,372.4 | 4,123.1 | -5.70% | 21.15% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
Appendix
Liberty Bank – Background
Liberty Bank is successor to the state-owned AgroMretsvBank, which was privatized in 1995, renamed People’s Bank of Georgia in 2002 and renamed again as Liberty Bank in March 2010.
A controlling stake of 65.2% of People’s Bank was sold to RAK Georgia Holding, controlled by Gulf Arab interests, in early 2009. In September 2009, 91% of the shares were acquired for $15 million by Liberty Investments, a venture between Lado Gurgenidze and Romanian oligarch Dinu Patriciu, head of Rompetrol.
People’s Bank played a special role in Georgia’s payment system as agent of the ministry of finance for pension disbursement through the bank’s branch network across the country. Though most pensions are paid in cash, People’s Bank developed a local payment card project with 150,000 cards in 2006.
In 2006, People’s Bank migrated all its bank cards, including local pensioner cards, to VISA Electron cards managed on its own in-house processing unit. At end-2008, People’s Bank was reported to have the largest branch network in Georgia, with 210 branches, and by far the biggest customer base, with 1.5 million accounts, and was also the leading bank in payment of other state benefits and utility bills.
During 2007-8, People’s Bank experienced difficulties. According to local media reports, Telesi, the Tbilisi electricity supply company, cancelled its payment contract with the bank because of delays in processing bill payments which had led customers to be disconnected even though they had made payment. People’s Bank lost its monopoly of state pension and benefit payments at that time, but as at end-2010 Liberty was exclusive provider of state pension services and sole provider of welfare payment services until end-2012.
Data Tables
| Key Statistics 2023 | |
|---|---|
| Population | 3.69 million, 2.38 cards per capita |
| Cards | Debit: 8.25 million Credit: 0.55 million Total: 8.81 million |
| Card Payments | All cards: 793.20 million; value GEL 32.20 billion ($12.25 billion) |
| POS Terminals | 123,559 (includes 1,099 in bank branches) |
| POS Payments | All cards 722.28 million; value GEL 27.44 billion ($10.44 billion) |
| ATMs | 2,846 |
| ATM Withdrawals | All cards: 108.69 million; value GEL 43.61 billion ($16.59 billion) |
| Market Overview | |
|---|---|
| Payment Organisation | None. |
| Domestic Card Brand | PAY debit cards. |
| Market Structure | Cards per capita reached 2.38 in 2023, a 13.98% rise from 2022. Cards issued have more than doubled since the 2008 Russian incursion. POS payments to merchants are much higher than the norm for emerging payment markets. All Georgian banks are privately-owned. Foreign capital plays an important role, accounting for 93.3% of banking sector assets. Until end-2016, Société Générale, through Bank Republic, was the main western bank investor. Banks from Turkey, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, and China are present in Georgia. In June 2014, Georgia and the EU signed a formal association agreement with the objective of later EU membership. |
| Notable Market Trends | Rollout of contactless cards and POS terminals; HCE NFC pilot; express branches, government anti-fraud initiatives; launch of Apple Pay; high proportion of digital and contactless transactions In 2023, cash withdrawal volumes and values sustained a rebound, up by 6.5% and 11.5% YoY. Similarly, POS payments value rose by 37% from 2022. The National Bank of Georgia is keen to explore the use of a central bank digital currency. |
| Major Card Issuers | Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank, TeraBank. |
| Major Card Acquirers | Bank of Georgia, TBC Bank, Liberty Bank. |
| Major Card Processors | Georgian Card, Union Financial Corporation, Liberty Bank |
| 1 - Banks in Georgia | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| Number of commercial banks | 15 | 15 | 15 | 14 | 15 | 15 |
| - foreign-controlled | 14 | 14 | 14 | 13 | 13 | 13 |
| Branch offices | 135 | 149 | 160 | 154 | 139 | 146 |
| Service centers | 792 | 835 | 765 | 756 | 763 | 759 |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||
| 2 - Georgian Banks Total Asset Market Shares | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 38.2 | 38.2 | 39.6 | 41.3 | 41.2 | 4.21% | 6.60% |
| Bank of Georgia | 34.7 | 36.3 | 38.2 | 41.1 | 39.7 | 7.65% | 4.17% |
| Bank Republic | - | - | - | - | |||
| Liberty Bank | 4.7 | 4.5 | 5.1 | 5.5 | 5.5 | 7.21% | 0.00% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.1 | 3.5 | 0.8 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -100.00% | -100.00% |
| ProCredit Bank | 3.8 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 2.4 | 2.4 | -20.79% | -12.20% |
| Other banks | 14.6 | 14.2 | 13.3 | 10.0 | 10.0 | -24.81% | -7.16% |
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | |||||||
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
| 3 - Georgian Banks Deposit Market Shares | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | Q3-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 41.2 | 39.0 | 38.3 | 40.4 | 40.3 | 39.8 | -0.25% | 0.25% |
| Bank of Georgia | 33.9 | 36.3 | 37.9 | 36.4 | 38.9 | 39.0 | 6.87% | 2.79% |
| Liberty Bank | 6.4 | 5.9 | 6.4 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 6.0 | 0.00% | -2.18% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.6 | 4.4 | 4.4 | 4.5 | 0.0 | 0.0 | -100.00% | -100.00% |
| Bank Republic | - | - | - | - | - | |||
| ProCredit Bank | 3.0 | 2.9 | 2.8 | 2.5 | 2.4 | 2.4 | -4.40% | -5.67% |
| Other banks | 10.9 | 11.4 | 10.2 | 6.3 | 11.0 | 11.0 | 74.60% | -1.39% |
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | ||||||||
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 4 - Georgian Banks Loan Market Shares | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (%) | 2018 | 2019 | Q3-2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| TBC Bank | 38.8 | 39.5 | 39.3 | 38.8 | 39.5 | 39.6 | 0.25% | 0.41% |
| Bank of Georgia | 33.5 | 34.9 | 34.8 | 35.7 | 36.1 | 36.8 | 1.94% | 1.90% |
| Liberty Bank | 3.9 | 3.4 | 3.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 4.6 | 0.00% | 3.36% |
| VTB Bank (Georgia) | 4.2 | 3.9 | 4.1 | 3.6 | 0.0 | 0.0 | NA | NA |
| Credo Bank | − | − | − | 3.5 | 3.5 | 3.5 | na | na |
| ProCredit Bank | 3.9 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 3.1 | 0.00% | -4.49% |
| Other banks | 15.7 | 14.6 | 14.4 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 9.1 | 0.00% | -10.33% |
| Source: Bank of Georgia (2021: TBC Bank) | ||||||||
| 5 - Average Exchange Rates | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | |
| GEL in EUR | 2.9917 | 3.1543 | 3.5504 | 3.8153 | 3.0812 | 2.8415 |
| GEL in USD | 2.5341 | 2.8182 | 3.109 | 3.2216 | 2.9162 | 2.6280 |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||
| 6 - Leading Card Issuers in Georgia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Issuers | Issued Card Brands | Owned by |
| Bank of Georgia | Mastercard, VISA, AmExp; Electron | Georgia Capital: 19.71%, BlackRock: 5.0%, other investors: 75.29% |
| TBC Bank Group | Mastercard, VISA; Debit Mastercard, Electron | two founding investors (GE): 15.8%, EBRD: 3.0%, IFC 2.8%, Other investors: 78.4% |
| Liberty Bank | Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay; PAY | Georgian Financial Group: 74.38%, Liberty Bank 18.43%, Other investors: 7.2% |
| ProCredit Bank | Mastercard, VISA; VISA Debit | ProCredit Holding (D): 100% |
| Cartu Bank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Cartu Group (GE): 100% |
| TeraBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private Investors (UAE) |
| BasisBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron; UnionPay | Hualing Group (China): 92,78%, Georgian interests |
| other banks | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private investors |
| Note: In October 2017 Liberty Bank was acquired by European Financial Group B.V. (EFG) | ||
| Note: TBC Bank absorbed Bank Republic at end-Q1 2017. | ||
| Source: PCM research | ||
| 7 - Leading Acquirers in Georgia | ||
|---|---|---|
| Domestic Acquirers | Acceptance Brands offered | Owned by |
| Bank of Georgia | Mastercard, VISA, AmExp, Diners; Electron, UnionPay, JCB | Georgia Capital: 19.71%, BlackRock: 5.0%, other investors: 75.29% |
| TBC Bank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | two founding investors (GE): 15.8%, EBRD: 3.0%, IFC 2.8%, Other investors: 78.4% |
| Liberty Bank | Mastercard, VISA, UnionPay; Electron, PAY | Georgian Financial Group: 74.38%, Liberty Bank 18.43%, Other investors: 7.2% |
| TeraBank | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private Investors (UAE) |
| other acquirer banks | Mastercard, VISA; Electron | Private investors |
| Note: all acquirers have own PSP services or co-operate with PSP partners. | ||
| Note: In 2018, CapitalBank ATMs began accepting UnionPay cards | ||
| 8 - ATMs in Georgia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| ATM Terminals | 2,531 | 2,693 | 2,821 | 2,902 | 2,846 | -1.93% | 4.17% |
| Ø Number of TXs per ATM per month | 2,593.4 | 2,440.3 | 2,653.2 | 2,929.4 | 3,182.7 | 8.65% | 4.73% |
| Number of ATM cash withdrawals (m) | 78.77 | 78.86 | 89.82 | 102.01 | 108.69 | 6.55% | 9.10% |
| - on domestic cards (m) | 75.62 | 77.53 | 87.91 | 99.37 | 106.38 | 7.06% | 9.52% |
| - on foreign cards (m) | 3.14 | 1.34 | 1.91 | 2.64 | 2.31 | -12.50% | -3.98% |
| Value of ATM cash withdrawals (GELm) | 20,466.7 | 22,265.6 | 29,435.5 | 39,096.7 | 43,611.0 | 11.55% | 20.10% |
| - on domestic cards (GELm) | 19,095.6 | 21,583.9 | 28,392.5 | 37,593.3 | 42,351.3 | 12.66% | 20.97% |
| - on foreign cards (GELm) | 1,371.1 | 681.7 | 1,043.0 | 1,503.3 | 1,259.7 | -16.21% | 2.70% |
| ATV per cash withdrawal (domestic) (GEL) | 252.51 | 278.41 | 322.99 | 378.32 | 398.11 | 5.23% | 10.45% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - Georgia | 680.9 | 722.3 | 764.8 | 776.7 | 770.3 | -0.82% | 4.33% |
| # ATM Terminals per 1m capita - EA10 total | 728.9 | 713.6 | 698.7 | 679.4 | 706.3 | 3.96% | -0.17% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
| 9 - POS Terminals in Georgia | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| POS and payment terminals | 63,388 | 73,911 | 89,527 | 105,404 | 123,559 | 17.22% | 22.74% |
| - thereof in shops and service outlets | 61,975 | 72,713 | 88,364 | 104,269 | 122,460 | 17.45% | 23.35% |
| - thereof in bank branches and kiosks | 1,413 | 1,198 | 1,163 | 1,135 | 1,099 | -3.17% | -5.66% |
| Ø Number of TXs per POS per month | 345.1 | 334.1 | 367.4 | 425.2 | 487.1 | 14.57% | 6.90% |
| Number of POS payments (m) | 262.51 | 296.33 | 394.68 | 537.80 | 722.28 | 34.30% | 31.22% |
| - on domestic cards (m) | 251.58 | 291.95 | 382.30 | 515.00 | 697.98 | 35.53% | 31.43% |
| - on foreign cards (m) | 10.92 | 4.38 | 12.38 | 22.80 | 24.30 | 6.56% | 25.78% |
| Value of POS payments (GELm) | 9,331.4 | 10,603.0 | 15,438.5 | 20,012.0 | 27,440.4 | 37.12% | 32.84% |
| - on domestic cards (GELm) | 8,013.4 | 10,180.2 | 14,220.3 | 17,891.7 | 25,141.8 | 40.52% | 35.04% |
| - on foreign cards (GELm) | 1,318.0 | 422.8 | 1,218.2 | 2,120.4 | 2,298.6 | 8.40% | 17.32% |
| ATV per POS payment (domestic) (GEL) | 31.85 | 34.87 | 37.20 | 34.74 | 36.02 | 3.68% | 2.74% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - Georgia | 17,054.0 | 19,822.7 | 24,271.3 | 28,210.0 | 33,443.1 | 18.55% | 22.94% |
| # POS Terminals per 1m capita - EA10 total | 15,041.9 | 17,946.5 | 19,042.0 | 21,172.0 | 23,259.9 | 9.86% | 12.48% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
| 10 - Remote Payments on Georgian Cards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of transactions (000s) | 43,789.7 | 54,810.9 | 81,696.5 | 89,924.3 | 114,805.6 | 197,080.4 | 71.66% | 35.10% |
| Value of transactions (GELm) | 2,687.2 | 3,501.2 | 4,754.8 | 6,494.3 | 8,158.0 | 14,608.8 | 79.07% | 40.30% |
| ATV per remote payment (GEL) | 61.37 | 63.88 | 58.20 | 72.22 | 71.06 | 74.13 | 4.32% | 3.85% |
| Note: figures from 2018 onwards have been restated. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 11 - Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| Cards with a cash function | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Cards with a payment function | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| - thereof debit cards | 6,725.1 | 6,100.1 | 6,320.9 | 6,284.8 | 7,246.7 | 8,258.1 | 13.96% | 4.19% |
| - thereof credit cards | 746.1 | 626.6 | 561.8 | 585.5 | 570.8 | 552.8 | -3.14% | -5.82% |
| Total | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Payment cards per capita - Georgia | 2.01 | 1.81 | 1.85 | 1.86 | 2.09 | 2.38 | 13.98% | 3.51% |
| Payment cards per capita - EA10 total | 1.40 | 1.50 | 1.65 | 1.82 | 2.09 | 2.42 | 15.79% | 11.57% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 12 - Transactions with Georgian Cards | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of ATM transactions (m) | 73.4 | 73.9 | 82.8 | 94.5 | 101.4 | 7.32% | 8.50% |
| Value of ATM transactions (GEL m) | 18,848.3 | 21,042.5 | 27,100.7 | 35,721.9 | 39,833.6 | 11.51% | 19.44% |
| Number of payments in banks (m) | 0.40 | 0.35 | 0.28 | 0.24 | 0.19 | -19.94% | -17.73% |
| Value of payments in banks (GEL m) | 105.4 | 105.6 | 98.4 | 85.8 | 87.9 | 2.38% | -5.82% |
| Number of payments to merchants (m) | 249.9 | 310.7 | 391.2 | 526.0 | 721.7 | 37.22% | 34.68% |
| Value of payments to merchants (GEL m) | 8,159.6 | 10,808.4 | 15,066.1 | 17,647.3 | 25,054.1 | 41.97% | 35.92% |
| Total transactions (m) | 323.7 | 385.0 | 474.3 | 620.7 | 823.3 | 32.64% | 28.96% |
| Total transactions (GEL m) | 27,113.3 | 31,956.5 | 42,265.2 | 53,455.1 | 64,975.5 | 21.55% | 24.29% |
| Card transactions per capita | 87.1 | 103.3 | 128.6 | 166.1 | 222.8 | 34.14% | 29.17% |
| Note: figures cover issuing transactions in Georgia made with domestic cards; payments in banks include bank branches and kiosks. | |||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | |||||||
| 13 - Payments with Georgian Cards | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Cards with a payment function (000s) | 7,471.2 | 6,726.7 | 6,882.7 | 6,870.3 | 7,817.4 | 8,810.9 | 12.71% | 3.35% |
| Ø payments per card per year | 23.3 | 40.0 | 48.8 | 61.7 | 73.7 | 90.0 | 22.15% | 31.02% |
| Ø payment value (GEL) per card per year | 920.1 | 1501.5 | 1823.0 | 2573.4 | 2903.3 | 3654.9 | 25.89% | 31.77% |
| Number of payments (m) | 174.21 | 269.32 | 335.53 | 424.12 | 576.13 | 793.20 | 37.68% | 35.41% |
| - with Georgian cards in Georgia (m) | 163.35 | 250.29 | 311.04 | 391.47 | 526.19 | 721.89 | 37.19% | 34.61% |
| - with Georgian cards abroad (m) | 10.85 | 19.03 | 24.49 | 32.65 | 49.94 | 71.31 | 42.79% | 45.72% |
| Value of payments (GELm) | 6,873.9 | 10,100.1 | 12,546.9 | 17,679.9 | 22,696.3 | 32,202.6 | 41.88% | 36.19% |
| - with Georgian cards in Georgia (GELm) | 5,518.8 | 8,265.0 | 10,914.0 | 15,164.5 | 17,733.2 | 25,141.9 | 41.78% | 35.43% |
| - with Georgian cards abroad (GELm) | 1,355.1 | 1,835.1 | 1,632.9 | 2,515.4 | 4,963.1 | 7,060.7 | 42.26% | 39.11% |
| ATV per card payment (domestic)(GEL) | 33.78 | 33.02 | 35.09 | 38.74 | 33.70 | 34.83 | 3.34% | 0.61% |
| Total card payments per capita | 46.8 | 72.5 | 90.0 | 115.0 | 154.2 | 214.7 | 39.24% | 35.63% |
| Total card payments value (GEL) per capita | 1,846.1 | 2,717.3 | 3,365.0 | 4,793.1 | 6,074.4 | 8,716.1 | 43.49% | 36.40% |
| Note: payments reported do not include internet payments which are shown separately in Table 10 but do include POS transactions in bank branches. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia | ||||||||
| 14 - Debit Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| VISA/Electron | 1,621.4 | 1,684.6 | 1,940.2 | 2,126.1 | 2,266.4 | 2,550.9 | 12.55% | 9.49% |
| MasterCard | 3,945.6 | 4,075.3 | 3,962.2 | 3,812.9 | 3,947.3 | 4,200.1 | 6.41% | 1.26% |
| PAY cards | 1,158.2 | 340.3 | 418.4 | 345.8 | 1,033.0 | 1,507.1 | 45.90% | 5.41% |
| Total | 6,725.1 | 6,100.1 | 6,320.9 | 6,284.8 | 7,246.7 | 8,258.1 | 13.96% | 4.19% |
| Note: from 2010, many banks have issued domestic PAY cards co-badged with the payfair scheme brand. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 15 - Credit Cards in Georgia | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| (000s) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| VISA/Electron | 314.1 | 260.2 | 212.1 | 166.0 | 147.4 | 134.7 | -8.63% | -15.58% |
| MasterCard | 240.0 | 216.2 | 150.4 | 111.9 | 99.0 | 70.3 | -28.93% | -21.77% |
| Other credit cards | 192.0 | 150.2 | 199.3 | 307.5 | 324.4 | 347.8 | 7.22% | 12.62% |
| Total | 746.1 | 626.6 | 561.8 | 585.5 | 570.8 | 552.8 | -3.14% | -5.82% |
| Note: other credit cards refer mainly to American Express cards issued by Bank of Georgia, since November 2009. | ||||||||
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 16 - Bank of Georgia Key Figures | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | GR 5Y | CAGR 5Y | |
| Branches | 276 | 272 | 211 | 211 | 207 | 189 | -8.70% | -31.52% | -7.29% |
| ATMs | 876 | 933 | 960 | 989 | 1,006 | 1,030 | 2.39% | 17.58% | 3.29% |
| POS terminals | 16,870 | 21,870 | 27,184 | 38,514 | 34,884 | 39,620 | 13.58% | 134.85% | 18.62% |
| - thereof contactless Express Pay terminals | 3,115 | 3,217 | 3,020 | 3,134 | 3,145 | 3,153 | 0.25% | 1.22% | 0.24% |
| Debit cards issued (000s) | 1,630.2 | 1,749.5 | 1,873.4 | 2,114.8 | 2,114.8 | 2,114.8 | 0.00% | 29.72% | 5.34% |
| Credit cards issued (000s) | 547.0 | 395.5 | 264.3 | 175.9 | 175.9 | 175.9 | 0.00% | -67.84% | -20.30% |
| of which American Express cards (000s) | 105.9 | 99.3 | 97.3 | 95.1 | 95.1 | 95.1 | 0.00% | -10.20% | -2.13% |
| Total cards issued (000s) | 2,177.3 | 2,145.1 | 2,137.7 | 2,290.7 | 2,966.4 | 2,966.4 | 0.00% | 36.24% | 6.38% |
| - thereof contactless Express cards (000s) | 914.6 | na | na | na | na | na | na | na | na |
| Retail clients (000s) | 2,440.8 | 2,540.5 | 2,616.5 | 2,721.0 | 2,721.0 | 2,721.0 | 0.00% | 11.48% | 2.20% |
| Active internet banking users | 295,226 | 294,081 | 142,832 | 165,871 | 165,871 | 165,871 | 0.00% | -43.82% | -10.89% |
| Active mobile banking users | 333,698 | 513,677 | 717,599 | 755,147 | 755,147 | 755,147 | 0.00% | 126.30% | 17.74% |
| Internet banking transactions (000s) | 5,892 | 5,302 | 4,219 | 4,025 | 4,025 | 4,025 | 0.00% | -31.69% | -7.34% |
| Mobile banking transactions (000s) | 15,676 | 35,938 | 62,525 | 110,033 | 110,033 | 110,033 | 0.00% | 601.92% | 47.66% |
| Source: Bank of Georgia. | |||||||||
| 17 - Liberty Bank Key Figures | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2014 | 2015 | Q3 2016 | Q3 2017 | 2018 | GR 17/18 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of branches | 629 | 667 | 697 | 702 | 444 | -36.75% | -5.94% |
| - branches & distribution outlets | 517 | 553 | 583 | 588 | 334 | -43.20% | -7.68% |
| - Express mobile branches | 112 | 114 | 114 | 114 | 110 | -3.51% | 0.93% |
| Customer accounts | 1,412,981 | 1,244,023 | 1,292,053 | 1,346,288 | 1,482,249 | 10.10% | 5.05% |
| Retail accounts (m) | 2.19 | 2.20 | 3.05 | 3.12 | 3.32 | 6.41% | 13.66% |
| Payroll accounts (000s) | 199 | 194 | 184 | 133 | 99 | -25.84% | -13.80% |
| Debit cards issued (000s) | 3,100 | 3,300 | 3,600 | 3,800 | 4,009 | 5.50% | 12.75% |
| Credit cards | 128,559 | 132,346 | 129,494 | 107,255 | 89,055 | -16.97% | 2.19% |
| ATMs | 386 | 425 | 468 | 483 | 527 | 9.11% | 9.03% |
| POS terminals | 1,968 | 2,597 | 2,934 | 2,380 | 1,578 | -33.70% | 1.10% |
| Number of transactions (000s) | 49,967 | 50,000 | 50,500 | 48,000 | 45,675 | -4.84% | -0.49% |
| - via electronic channels (000s) | 14,565 | 19,500 | 27,300 | 26,000 | 24,710 | -4.96% | 14.65% |
| Note: In October 2017 Liberty Bank was acquired by European Financial Group B.V. (EFG) | |||||||
| Note: figures for 2017 are as at end-Q3 2017. Transaction figures for 2016 are as at end-Q3 2016. | |||||||
| Source: Liberty Bank. | |||||||
| 18 - TBC Bank Key Figures | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Number of branches | 149 | 157 | 160 | 160 | 129 | 123 | -4.65% | -3.76% |
| ATMs | 497 | 568 | 671 | 620 | 703 | 774 | 10.10% | 9.26% |
| POS terminals | 17,048 | 22,414 | 25,163 | 26,300 | 29,200 | 32,626 | 11.73% | 13.86% |
| Retail accounts | 2,298,966 | 2,486,155 | 2,605,337 | 2,782,000 | 3,043,583 | 3,275,037 | 7.60% | 7.33% |
| Active retail digital users | 495,000 | 575,000 | 656,000 | 744,000 | 800,548 | 920,522 | 14.99% | 13.21% |
| Note: the Bank has 123 (2022: 129; 2021: 147; 2020:149; 2019:148) branches within Georgia in 2023. | ||||||||
| Note: ATM figure for 2021 is as at end-Q1 2022. Atm's including partner banks for 2021 number 1,600. | ||||||||
| Note: mobile banking customers are active users and include "Space" users. | ||||||||
| Source: TBC Bank. | ||||||||
| 19 - Georgian Money Transfers | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y | |
| Inflow ($m) | 1,442.29 | 1,733.32 | 1,885.98 | 2,349.56 | 4,372.41 | 4,123.05 | -5.70% | 23.38% |
| - of which from Russia | 417.53 | 428.89 | 363.92 | 411.37 | 2,067.84 | 1,526.81 | -26.16% | 29.60% |
| - of which from Italy | 176.02 | 239.17 | 297.61 | 385.74 | 431.61 | 518.56 | 20.15% | 20.99% |
| - of which from USA | 145.21 | 178.41 | 218.36 | 284.30 | 326.99 | 456.39 | 39.57% | 10.85% |
| - of which from Greece | 155.54 | 192.55 | 219.14 | 240.15 | 223.93 | 243.00 | 8.52% | 27.23% |
| - of which from Turkey | 98.36 | 94.85 | 106.81 | 104.48 | 101.01 | 112.81 | 11.69% | 2.78% |
| - of which from Ukraine | 26.14 | 42.92 | 87.53 | 92.70 | 11.04 | 1.12 | -89.81% | -46.71% |
| Outflow ($m) | 229.75 | 237.42 | 264.09 | 316.86 | 343.48 | 343.48 | 0.00% | 8.38% |
| - of which to Russia | 90.38 | 78.56 | 84.14 | 90.46 | 41.22 | 41.98 | 1.83% | -14.22% |
| - of which to Turkey | 24.14 | 34.11 | 51.34 | 71.27 | 72.89 | 76.50 | 4.94% | 25.95% |
| - of which to Ukraine | 25.95 | 26.52 | 25.76 | 29.38 | 45.83 | 33.40 | -27.13% | 5.17% |
| - of which to Greece | 9.60 | 10.05 | 11.34 | 14.25 | 18.91 | 18.24 | -3.57% | 13.68% |
| - of which to Italy | 3.92 | 4.13 | 4.51 | 6.26 | 8.60 | 10.81 | 25.64% | 22.50% |
| - of which to USA | 4.64 | 4.86 | 3.58 | 3.95 | 14.79 | 17.30 | 17.00% | 30.12% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||
| 20 - Georgian Money Transfers by System | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| ($m) | 2018 | 2019 | 2020 | 2021 | 2022 | 2023 | GR 22/23 | CAGR 5Y |
| Zolotaia Korona | ||||||||
| Inflow | 349.6 | 364.9 | 320.6 | 438.9 | 1,198.3 | 784.5 | -34.53% | 17.54% |
| shares in total | 22% | 21% | 17% | 19% | 26% | 19% | -25.67% | -2.57% |
| Western Union | ||||||||
| Inflow | 302.0 | 324.7 | 340.3 | 406.6 | 432.3 | 498.4 | 15.31% | 10.54% |
| shares in total | 19% | 19% | 18% | 17% | 11% | 13% | 14.04% | -7.41% |
| Unistream | ||||||||
| Inflow | 195.1 | 155.6 | 125.6 | 140.2 | 1012.3 | 798.5 | -21.11% | 32.56% |
| shares in total | 12% | 9% | 7% | 6% | 20% | 29% | 44.72% | 18.36% |
| Intel Express | ||||||||
| Inflow | 204.8 | 225.7 | 265.4 | 291.4 | 343.2 | 381.0 | 11.00% | 13.22% |
| shares in total | 13% | 13% | 14% | 13% | 9% | 10% | 19.77% | -4.55% |
| Contact | ||||||||
| Inflow | 75.8 | 114.6 | 159.6 | 199.0 | 331.1 | 286.0 | -13.63% | 30.42% |
| shares in total | 5% | 7% | 8% | 8% | 7% | 8% | 19.12% | 11.03% |
| MoneyGram | ||||||||
| Inflow | 137.3 | 148.1 | 224.0 | 302.3 | 362.0 | 507.3 | 40.15% | 29.87% |
| shares in total | 9% | 9% | 12% | 13% | 9% | 13% | 41.94% | 8.70% |
| RIA | ||||||||
| Inflow | 257.4 | 322.0 | 367.9 | 464.5 | 573.1 | 737.6 | 28.71% | 23.44% |
| shares in total | 16% | 19% | 20% | 20% | 15% | 18% | 25.17% | 2.58% |
| Other Systems | ||||||||
| Inflow | 57.6 | 76.8 | 82.6 | 106.0 | 119.1 | 129.2 | 8.45% | 17.52% |
| shares in total | 4% | 4% | 5% | 6% | 3% | 5% | 48.39% | 4.75% |
| Total Inflow | 1,579.7 | 1,733.3 | 1,886.0 | 2,349.6 | 4,372.4 | 4,123.1 | -5.70% | 21.15% |
| Source: National Bank of Georgia. | ||||||||