Shaparak, the domestic payment and settlement network, processed 1.035 billion transactions during the last month of the fiscal year that ended on March19, worth 1.18 quadrillion rials ($39 billion). The figure shows a 28.11% year-on-year growth in volume and 12.57% in value, according to data released Tuesday.
The report also indicates an 18.5% surge in the number of transactions and a 25.5% growth in value at a monthly rate.
The total number of failed transactions grew by 13.49%. During the period Shaparak recorded 127,300,000 failed transactions, 76.24% of which were caused by users while card issuers (banks) accounted for 21.34% of botched transactions—a growth of 61.25% compared to the previous month.
However, Shaparak managed to considerably enhance its operations. It accounted for just 0.32% of failed transactions, down 83.24% compared to the previous month, according to the report.
POS terminals still topped the list for the most widely-used transaction tools, accounting for 85.02% of total electronic transactions. Internet payment services and mobile payments also accounted for 2.27% and 12.71% of transaction, respectively.
About 70% of transactions were made for purchasing goods and services. Checking account balance and paying bills accounted for 8.02% and 21.03% of transactions, respectively.
Big Players
The data covers performance of Payment Service Providing companies showing that Beh-Pardakht, a Bank Mellat subsidiary payment firm, owns the largest share of the payment market accounting for 24.6% of the total transactions. Saman Electronic Payment, affiliated to Saman Bank, trails Beh-Pardakht with 15% of the market.
Beh-Pardakht accounted for 28% of transactions made via POS terminals, double its closest competitor Saman Electronic Payment. Parsian Bank E-Commerce Company hosted 32.5% of online transactions and Asan Pardakht Persian dominated the market for mobile payments at 44 %.
Currently, 12 authorized Payment Service Providers (PSP) are active in Iran’s e-payment industry with more than 4 million active terminals. Shetab, the Iranian interbank network with about 30-35 million users, accounts for an estimated 200 million transactions every day.
According to Shaparak, Bank Mellat owns the largest share of the market, as it received 36.5% of total transactions. Parsian Bank and Bank Melli Iran accounted for respectively 7.87% and 7.12% transactions.
Bank Mellat also received 31.08% of transactions made by POS terminals, while its main competitor Bank Melli Iran lags far behind with barely 8% share of the market. Mellat also accounted for 74.6% of mobile transactions during the said period. However, Parsian Bank got 28.54% of online transactions, slightly more than Mellat’s 27.7%.
