Belarusians may be banned from paying cash for expensive purchases
22/11/20120 views
On November 22, Minsk / Anna Kot - BELTA /. The National Bank of Belarus proposes to establish by law a requirement for cashless payment in retail trade for goods, works or services, the cost of which is 100 or more times the basic amount established on the day of sale to the consumer. This was announced today at the IX International Forum on Banking Information Technologies "BankIT'12" by the Deputy Chairman of the Board of the National Bank of Belarus, Sergey Dubkov, BELTA correspondent reports.
For example, Italy has introduced a ban on cash payments for purchases exceeding 1000 euros, Greece - for amounts over 1500 euros, France - for amounts over 3000 euros, noted Sergey Dubkov.
It is also planned to exclude the possibility of paying cash to the consumer in case of return of goods (works, services) paid for by cashless means in an amount 100 or more times exceeding the basic amount established on the day of sale to the consumer.
At the same time, in Belarus, it is planned to expand the list of facilities provided for by law, in which payment terminals for cashless payment using bank plastic cards must be installed. The right to choose the cashless form of payment for goods, works or services should be granted to the consumer at the legislative level, believes the representative of the National Bank.
Also, in Belarus, it is proposed to apply a differentiated approach when establishing rental rates for premises where terminal equipment for accepting cashless payments is available or absent.
These and other proposals are planned to be enshrined in law, which will create conditions for carrying out settlements in the retail trade and services sector predominantly in cashless form, noted Sergey Dubkov.
It is also planned to organize predominantly round-the-clock access for cardholders to self-service equipment (infokiosks, ATMs). The issue of introducing contactless technologies for cashless payments by the population, including payment for travel on public transport, will be worked out. It is planned to connect new settlement and payment agents, service providers to ERIP, and supplement the list with new types of services provided for cashless payment.
All of the above is provided for by the measures of the Programme for the Development of the System of Non-Cash Payments in the Republic of Belarus for Retail Payments Using Modern Electronic Payment Instruments and Means of Payment for 2013-2015, the draft of which was prepared by the National Bank. The objective of the programme is to increase the share of non-cash money circulation in retail trade turnover of retail trade organisations and in the volume of paid services to the population to 50% by 2016. In doing so, the load on a payment terminal for conducting non-cash payments in the retail trade and services sector should not exceed 160 cards.
The draft programme was posted on the official website of the National Bank and sent to interested government bodies and banks. "Proposals and comments received from republican government bodies, banks, and citizens have been reviewed and taken into account. After the final version of the draft programme is prepared, it will be submitted for consideration to the Council of Ministers," reported Sergey Dubkov.
As of November 1, 2012, the indicator for the share of non-cash money circulation in retail trade turnover reached 12.8%. The indicator for the share of non-cash money circulation in the volume of paid services to the population is calculated once a year, and for 2011 it was 10.8%.
Banks of Belarus issue cards of the domestic payment system "BelCart" and international payment systems VISA and MasterCard. As of October 1, 2012, the share of issuance of cards of the domestic payment system "BelCart" accounted for 47.5% of the total number of cards in circulation, international payment system VISA - 36.7%, MasterCard - 15.8%. In total, card issuance exceeded 10 million units, and the number of functioning accounts to which cards were issued is 9.8 million. In more than 34,000 trade (service) organisations, over 52,000 payment terminals have been installed for non-cash payments using cards, 4,143 infokiosks for non-cash payment of services are operational, 3,528 ATMs are available, and in 97% of which cardholders can not only withdraw cash but also make non-cash payments.
As of October 1, 2012, the share of non-cash transactions in card transactions averaged 61.9% by the number of transactions and 18.7% by the amount of transactions across the republic, having increased over the last four and a half years by 25 and 12 percentage points respectively by the number and amount of transactions.-0-
BELTA