The total number of credit cards, with at least one monthly transaction, increased 15% to June 20.
The last monthly report published by Shaparak, the company in charge of supervising and maintaining the domestic payment network, shows that the number of active credit cards reached 625,632 during the period. Credit cards still account for a meager 0.47% of the total bank cards used in Iran.
Iranian banks issue credit cards, debit cards and gift cards, but the first type is usually limited to VIPs.
According to the report, the total active bank cards reached 132.4 million during the month. Bank Melli was the issuer of 81.08% of all credit cards, followed by Bank Saderat 4.39% and Bank Sepah 3.91%.
This is while, the CBI has said that it is trying to promote credit cards as a resourceful and accessible alternative to microloans.
Most private banks had no active credit cards during the said period. Saman Bank was the leading private lender in terms of active credit cards accounting for only 1.41% of the total.
The rule is that banks can provide only one credit card to each customer, though customers can hold credit cards of multiple banks as long as the maximum credit does not exceed 2 billion rials.
Cardholders are given 12-36 months to settle their bills at a maximum 18% set by the Money and Credit Council.
As per Central Bank of Iran rules, banks can issue credit cards with a maximum spending limit of 2 billion rials ($7,400).
Debt Cards Rule
Debit cards still dominate in the Iranian banking system. Card holders made at least one transaction with 125.8 million debit cards in the month or nearly 95% of the total.
An estimated 21.85% debit cards were issued by Bank Melli Iran, followed by Bank Sepah 11.97% and Bank Mellat and Bank Saderat with 11.27% and 10.89%, respectively.
Bank Pasargad topped the private bank list in terms of debit cards with 1.96% of the total. Ayandeh Bank and Shahr Bank ranked next with 1.58% and 1.53%, respectively.
Lenders also issue prepaid cards, the number of which declined by 16% to 5.9 million in the month to June 20.
The company said 17.25% of the pre-paid cards were issued by Bank Melli, Bank Mellat was next with 13.57% followed by Parsian Bank 10%.
An estimated 3.701 billion retail transactions were processed during the month by the domestic electronic payment network worth 7,251 trillion rials ($22.65 billion) – up 4.24% in volume and 8.6% in value on the month before.
