Interest in TROY, a domestic electronic card payment clearing system introduced in 2016, has gained momentum recently, according to the data from Anadolu Agency (AA) shared Thursday.
The local card scheme was brought to life under the leadership of the InterBank Card Center (BKM) and further works on the system were accelerated after the Central Bank of the Republic of Türkiye (CBRT) became a controlling shareholder of BKM in 2020, as per AA report.
With the dissemination strategy put into effect this year, TROY, which supports the most up-to-date technologies in the field of card systems, grew rapidly in both usage and number of cards.
Currently, there are approximately 19 million cards with the TROY logo.
As of October 2023, TROY has 55 members as a bank and electronic money institution, and cards with the TROY logo can be used in all cash points, POS devices and e-commerce transactions domestically.
TROY cards, which can be used abroad and in places where the logos of international card schemes on the back of the card are valid, can be obtained by applying to banks and electronic money institutions.
While the shopping volume with TROY logo cards increased approximately 14-fold in October when compared to the volume in January this year, reaching TL 48 billion ($1.68 billion), a total value of TL 239.2 billion in transactions has been made with these cards since the beginning of 2023.
Banking officials stated that the demand for TROY cards in banks has accelerated in recent weeks and that there is a need for both new cards and card replacements.
Atilla Şendur, a card user, stated that he has been using the TROY card for about a year and that he is satisfied when it comes to it. "I chose the TROY card because it is local and national, and I recommend it to my circle," he said.
According to a separate report of AA Thursday, it was noted Türkiye’s Presidency of Religious Affairs (Diyanet) would switch to the usage of the card in question in upcoming weeks.
It was said the religious body held the meetings with the financial institutions that make interest-free salary payments a day earlier regarding the transition to the TROY card. Diyanet also said its employees would use the card from now on.