Visa Company to Al-Eqtisad News: We have licensed more than 20 entities to export Visa cards inside

Director General of Visa for the Arab Levant, Mario Macari, revealed that more than 20 entities have been licensed to issue Visa cards by banks and electronic payment companies in order to meet the needs of the market.
Al-Makari said in his speech to “Al-Iqtisad News” that the Iraqi market is one of the very promising markets, and we at Visa consider it one of the important markets for us, and we are working with all institutions, such as the Central Bank, the government, and banks, to build a very strong, safe and fast electronic payment network, including Benefit to the national economy. 
He stressed that electronic payment in Iraq is growing annually, especially since 20% of the Iraqi people have bank accounts and benefit from the services. Visa has granted a license to more than 20 banks and electronic payment companies, and we have partnerships with banks and companies licensed by the Central Bank in order to develop payment. Electronic in Iraq. 
Al-Makari praised the government's steps in activating electronic payment tools within government institutions and Iraqi society, but they require a period of time for their spread, especially since Iraq is witnessing a growth in the number of cards and merchants' use of electronic payment devices. 
He added that electronic payment greatly serves the merchant, avoiding the risks of counterfeiting currency, theft, transferring money, and increasing sales. He can also measure the volume of his business through the revenues generated through electronic payment, indicating that trust between the citizen and the banking sector is increasing day after day. 
Al-Makari pointed out that Visa has close cooperation with the Iraqi government, and we have successive meetings with the Prime Minister’s Office, to activate electronic payment, and electronic payment eliminates money laundering operations, because it knows its sources. 
He stated that the citizen does not bear any cost in using electronic payment tools, but rather it is a small cost to the merchant, in exchange for the services he obtains, through technical support, and it is small compared to the quality of the services. 
He noted that Visa has many partnerships with some companies, such as the Miswak application, as its sales through electronic payment were 1%, and when we worked on the partnership, it increased to 11%, of which 10% was Visa’s share, and this is a very large growth, so we are looking forward to making partnerships. With local and international merchants within the Iraqi market, we are currently working on partnerships with the Careem, Twitters and Meta applications. 
He continued that Iraq is witnessing the spread of electronic payment tools through electronic wallets, and most cards are prepaid, but we are witnessing an increase in cards linked to a bank account, indicating that Visa has launched more than 50 products within the Iraqi market. 
Al-Makari concluded his speech by saying that Visa is currently working on developing the electronic payment network within the Iraqi market through the use of QR and making the mobile phone a payment and collection point at the same time, and this is considered an optimal investment in technology.