Shaparak Company, regulator of Iran’s domestic payment network, said payment service providers need not issue POS terminal receipts for transactions worth 2 million rials or less, to help save trees (protect the environment) and cut costs.
According to Kazem Dehghan, the CEO, Shaparak network processes more than 40 billion transactions a year, 90% via POS terminals. Printing the transaction receipts costs nearly 7 trillion rials ($23.2 million), the company website quoted him as saying.
“Printing transaction receipts was optional for transactions worth 500,000 rials or less accounting for almost 40% of the total transactions,” he said. “As per the new measure, the cap is raised to 2 million rials or less, accounting for 80% of transactions.”
As per law, banks send an electronic version of the receipt to cardholders via SMS, therefore cardholders have been urged not to ask for a print of the receipt, expect when it is important, he added.
However, offering a print receipt is a must on cardholders’ demand.
The cost of payment transactions is one long unresolved domestic e-payment issue. The Central Bank of Iran has tried time and again but failed to rewrite the procedure acceptable to all sides
The nationwide e-payment settlement network processed an estimated 38.85 billion payments worth 71,274 trillion rials ($236.8 billion) in the last fiscal year that ended in March.
There were more than 10.2 million payment instruments, data show. POS devices were at the top with 89.5% and 89% of the total mode of transactions.
The higher number of POS devices is largely because of their wider spread compared to other devices and the convenience with which payments can be made without the need for supplementary devices such as a PC or cellphone, which may not always be accessible.
The cost of payment transactions is one long unresolved domestic e-payment issue. The Central Bank of Iran has tried time and again but failed to rewrite the procedure acceptable to all sides.
Unlike regulations in most countries, debit card holders in Iran are not charged for e-payments when buying goods and services. The decision (not to pay) was made years ago, when the CBI started promoting debit cards.
Banks receiving and making payments now 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 portion of the payment fee, 500 rials, goes to companies in charge of maintaining the payment network.
