Lending agencies operating in Tajikistan are currently modernizing their automated self-service terminals to accept banknotes of new design issued in 2023.
An official source within the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) says most terminals operating in the country use foreign-made bill acceptors that are no longer in production and do not support software updates to recognize new banknotes.
The supplier of these bill acceptors offered Tajik lending agencies to purchase a new model, which costs US$700-US$800.
But given that some lending agencies have a large number of terminals and the purchase of new bill acceptors will require significant financial investments that may affect their financial position and quality of customer service.
The Tajik financial regulator has obliged credit institutions to eliminate all existing problems and ensure acceptance of new banknotes in existing terminals by the end of 2024. To resolve this issue, credit institutions and bank paying agents are gradually changing the bill acceptors and testing new types of bill acceptors from other manufacturers with lower cost.
As of December 31, 2023, 551 automated self-service terminals have been modernized, existing difficulties have been eliminated and the acceptance of new banknotes has been ensured. The acceptance of new banknotes by terminals is expected to be ensured throughout the country during this year.
As of October 1, 2020, there have been 6385 automated self-service terminals operating in the country.
