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Population
10.4M
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Online population
9.27M
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Currency
AZN
Population - 10.4M
At the end of 2025, 58.5 % of Azerbaijan’s population lived in urban centres, whereas 41.5 % lived in rural areas.
Internet penetration - 89%
There were 9.27M internet users in Azerbaijan at the end of 2025.
In 2020, the Central Bank of Azerbaijan launched the Instant Payments System (IPS/AÖS), enabling account-to-account transfers within seconds, 24/7. In 2023, a new payments law created a formal licensing framework for payment and electronic-money companies, giving non-bank fintechs a clearer place in the financial system. Then, in 2025, Azerbaijan introduced AZQR, a common national standard for QR payments, and rolled out its open-banking platform. By 2026, IPS usage is growing rapidly and banks are adding AZQR payments to their apps and merchant terminals.
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🇦🇿 One QR Code, Any Financial App
Azerbaijan wants to make the QR code at the checkout independent from the company that provides it. The Central Bank’s AZQR standard creates a common format that allows participating banking and payment apps to scan the same merchant QR code and pay directly from an account. This matters because it shifts QR payments away from closed ecosystems, where merchants and customers need matching providers, towards shared national infrastructure. Combined with Azerbaijan’s 24/7 Instant Payments System, AZQR could make direct account payments a practical alternative to cards for everyday purchases.
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Open banking is now the next frontier. The CBA built a central gateway that allows customers to give authorised providers access to information held across their bank accounts. Banks started connecting in 2025, and the ecosystem widened in May 2026, when Mpay and Goldenpay (Pulz) became the first electronic-money institutions to join.
In 2026, Azerbaijan’s banking sector remains compact and concentrated around established commercial banks. The country entered the year with 22 banks, including two state-owned institutions, while nine had foreign capital in their ownership. ABB (International Bank of Azerbaijan) and Kapital Bank sit among the market’s dominant players, alongside PASHA Bank, which focuses more heavily on corporate banking, and established competitors such as Xalq Bank, Unibank and Bank Respublika.
An interesting shift is happening around these incumbents: Azerbaijan is connecting a relatively traditional banking market to instant payments and open banking, giving customers and fintechs new ways to interact with accounts without fundamentally changing who holds the deposits and banking licences.