The number of bank cards in use is 268 million, which means that there are 3.3 cards per person, an official at the Central Bank of Iran said.
As per available data Iran’s population is over 83 million.
According to Davoud Mohammad-Beigi, head of the CBI's Department of Payment Systems, bank cards include debit and credit cards, excluding gift cards.
Mohammad-Beigi said the per capita for bank cards is normal given the penetration of electronic banking services.
“In a country where the majority of the population has a bank account and the ratio of banknotes and coins to the money supply has declined from 7.6% to 2.3% over seven years, 3.3 bank cards for each person is not uncommon,” he was quoted as saying by the CBI’s public relations website.
Having more than one bank card is not a source of concern and can be seen as a merit for bank customers as this “ensures the sustainability of payment services” for the people and businesses, he added.
“Shops normally have two to three POS terminals and when one payment service provider fails the other processes the transaction.”
Such volume of bank cards does not pose a problem for the regulator’s task in overseeing banking transactions and the likelihood of fraud, embezzlement and money laundering.
“It is not difficult to restrict the numbers of bank cards owned by a person because all cards are registered and issued with [national] ID numbers,” he said.
As an example, there is a 1 billion rial ceiling for daily purchase using POS terminals and bank customers are obliged to observe the ceiling regardless of the number of cards they own.
The increase in bank cards is linked to the expansion of electronic banking in recent years, thanks to the growth of ATMs and POS terminals in all parts of the country (including remote rural areas) plus the expansion in e-banking platforms.
As per a report by Iran’s electronic payment settlement network, known as Shaparak, there were 2,035 instruments per 10,000 adults (above 18 years old) in the month to June 21.
POS terminals had the highest and mobile instruments the lowest penetration rates, with 1,543 and 232 instruments per 10,000 adults, respectively. During the period, there were 1.93 million active POS devices operating in Tehran Province, alone.
