An Innovative Local Payments Method in an Ancient Land
By Havva Canibek
Vice President Product Management, Card Payments at Bankalararası Kart Merkezi (Interbank Card Center of Turkey)
Payments have been part of our lives in different forms since olden times.
Anatolia, at the crossroads between modern-day Europe and Asia, was one of the early adopters of money and at the centre of significant trade activity. Lydians minted their first coins as early as 600 bc, and the macellum – a round Roman indoor market at the ancient Hellenistic city of Aizanoi – was founded before 200 AD and was one of the first organized stock exchanges in the region (in the modern-day province of Kütahya in Turkey).1
In short, the region of Anatolia has played an important role in the history of money and payments. In today’s global payments industry, the Turkish payments market – the largest in Europe in terms of number of cards – has made significant leaps towards the adoption of new technologies such as Chip & PIN, contactless and mobile payments. Yet, it has only been recently (since 2016) that the Turkish payments market has introduced its own payment method, TROY.
So, what drives the need for local payment methods even in developed payments markets such as Turkey? What is their value proposition and how do they contribute to the payments industry? What are the critical success factors for local payment methods and the lessons learned from cases such as TROY?
What Drives the Rise of Local Payment ...
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