Iranian payment service providers are still the largest merchant acquirers in the Middle East and Africa, according to the latest issue of Nilson Report.
"The largest merchant acquirers in the Middle East and Africa are in Iran, where neither Visa nor Mastercard cards are issued or acquired…There were seven acquirers in Iran that processed more card payments than the largest Visa and Mastercard acquirer in the MEA region," reads the report.
Behpardakht Mellat, Saman e-Pay, Parsian E-Commerce, Asan Pardakht Persian, Iran Kish Credit Card, Sadad Informatics and Pasargad Electronic Payment are Iranian PSPs ranked in the latest list, "all handle only domestic-market Shaparak network card transactions."
Saman E-Pay, on Tuesday, said it had topped the list of MEA's largest acquirers in terms of the number of transactions. The company processed more than 7.7 billion transactions in 2021 worth $287 billion.
The Iran-based acquirers collectively processed 33.70 billion purchase card transactions last year worth $1.301 trillion. Transactions increased 21.3% then and purchase volume was up 43.8%.
As per the report, 36 largest merchant acquirers in the Middle East and Africa region based on the number of Visa and Mastercard purchase transactions collectively processed $221.55 billion in purchase volume from 5.09 billion Visa and Mastercard transactions.
Those acquirers also processed 27.5 million American Express, Diners Club, JCB and UnionPay purchase transactions valued at $3 billion.
Domestic-only brands included Verve in Nigeria, eBucks and Petro Card in South Africa, Al-Amil and KNet in Kuwait, eCash in Qatar, AutoBranch in Kenya, Mada in Saudi Arabia, MCB Fleetman in Mauritius, PayPak in Pakistan, Mercury in United Arab Emirates and CMI in Morocco. Purchase transactions for all domestic-only brands grew 54.4% in 2021 and purchase volume climbed 36.9%.
Global Ranking
The journal put Iran’s Behpardakht Mellat 11th on the list of the world's 150 Largest Merchant Acquirers in 2020, with 6.94 billion plus transactions.
With 5.97 billion transactions, Saman Bank’s e-payment company was 15th. Parsian E-Commerce Company, affiliated to Parsian Bank, was the world's 17th largest acquirer. The payment company processed 5.25 billion transactions in the year.
Asan Pardakht Persian came in 26th with 3.78 billion transactions. Iran Kish Credit Card Company handled 3.7 billion transactions to clinch the 30th spot.
Sadad Electronic Payment Company of the state-owned Bank Melli was 50th with 1.3 billion transactions in 2020.
Pasargad Electronic Payment Company, owned by Bank Pasargad Iran, was 60th with 959 million transactions.
Local Market
Twelve PSPs so far have CBI license to operate in Iran’s domestic market. The central bank’s stringent regulations for setting up a PSP have discouraged new players in the rapidly expanding lucrative market.
Unlike in most countries, debit card holders in Iran are not charged for e-payment when buying goods and services. The decision (not to pay fees) was made years ago, when the CBI started promoting debit cards.
At present, banks receiving and making payments pay the bulk of fees because when a payment is made with a bank card, the bank receiving the payment has to pay a fee to the bank whose card has been used.
This is over and above the amount banks pay as rent and support fees for each POS device to PSPs. Besides, a part of the payment fee, 500 rials, goes to companies in charge of maintaining the payment network.
