Georgia plans to launch national instant payment system in 2026, will not restrict Visa, Mastercard operations - National Bank

TBILISI. March 28 (Interfax) - The National Bank of Georgia (NBG) is developing a national instant payment system in partnership with the World Bank, and it does not plan to restrict the operations of the Visa and Mastercard international payment systems, the NBG said.

"We would like to address the widespread misinformation in various media outlets claiming that Georgia allegedly plans to restrict the operations of the Visa and Mastercard payment systems. Non-card and traditional card-based (Visa, Mastercard, American Express) payment schemes are and will continue to operate in parallel in Georgia, which will create competition in the payment sector and provide consumers with a wide range of services," it said.

The NBG together with the World Bank began working on a project several years ago to implement an instant payment system as part of payment infrastructure development, it said. This system will become available to the public and businesses in H2 2026.

Instant payment systems have been implemented in more than 120 countries, the NGB said. These systems operate without cards and are characterized by the immediate availability of funds for the transfer's recipient and low transaction costs.

This system will further promote the development of so-called open banking services offered in Georgia by fintech companies registered as payment service providers.

At the same time, the card payment system "is not as widely accessible to small businesses due to high service fees," the NBG said. The instant payment system, in cooperation with fintech companies, will increase the availability of electronic payments in sectors where this service is currently unavailable, it said.

"The new payment system will operate based on international standards and be compatible with the Single Euro Payments Area (SEPA) schemes, allowing us to integrate our country's payment system with the European payment system after Georgia joins the SEPA geographical zone," it said.