The next phase of digital banking in Azerbaijan: Interview with Farid Huseynov, CEO, Bir ecosystem

By Puja Sharma

As Azerbaijan accelerates its transition towards a digital economy, integrated ecosystems are emerging as a powerful model for driving financial inclusion, cashless payments, and digital commerce adoption. By combining banking, payments, eCommerce, loyalty, and digital services within a single platform, ecosystem players are helping consumers and merchants navigate the shift from traditional cash-based transactions to connected digital experiences.

In conversation with Farid Huseynov, CEO of the Bir ecosystem, IBS Intelligence explored how Bir is helping shape Azerbaijan’s digital economy, the advantages of the ecosystem model over standalone FinTech offerings, the factors accelerating digital banking and cashless payment adoption, and the role of AI in enhancing customer experience and operational efficiency. He also shared his vision for Bir’s evolution as a platform connecting millions of consumers and businesses across the country.

What problem was Bir originally created to solve?

The Bir ecosystem was created in 2025 by uniting Azerbaijan’s leading banking, payments and eCommerce brands to help expedite the resources-rich South Caucasus nation’s transition to a digital economy.

Azerbaijan has a young population with a median age of just over 33, and a high internet penetration of more than 91%. Yet, the country still relies heavily on cash and traditional physical retail. Bir set out to change this by building an ecosystem that is so intuitive and integrated that it is set to become part of consumers’ daily habits, while helping merchants fuel their growth.

We are helping build trust for digital services in the country by meeting people where they are. For example, Bir has physical bank branches alongside digital banking. The ecosystem also has Million, a network of payment terminals that allow customers to convert cash into digital balances for everyday transactions, such as bank account top-ups and bill payments.

Trust is not built in a day, so we introduce customers to digital banking and eCommerce gradually, so they can move at their own pace. The Bir ecosystem reaches more than 5 million customers, offering them direct value, including a generous loyalty program

What advantages does an ecosystem model provide over single-product FinTech companies?

An ecosystem model allows us to solve much more of the customer journey, rather than focusing on just one part of it. A single-product company may be very good at payments, lending or online shopping, but customers do not experience their financial lives in separate boxes. Within the Bir ecosystem, they can move seamlessly from turning cash into digital money, to discovering a product, paying for it, financing it if needed and earning rewards — all within one connected experience.

This model is especially important in markets like Azerbaijan, where trust in digital services is still developing and cash remains widely used. Customers need reliable and familiar entry points. Some may begin by paying bills through a Million terminal, then gradually adopt a digital wallet, mobile banking or eCommerce. The ecosystem allows us to support that transition step by step, instead of expecting ingrained cultural habits to change overnight.

Each service within the ecosystem reinforces the others and provides customers with additional value through the loyalty program.

What factors are accelerating digital banking and cashless payments adoption in Azerbaijan? 

The right fundamentals, such as a young and highly connected population, are already in place. At the same time, the government is working to accelerate Azerbaijan’s transition to a digital economy by developing more robust digital infrastructure, such as digital IDs that can be used to apply for loans.

Consumer preferences are changing, with more people expecting the convenience of smartphone-based services. To encourage wider adoption and use across our ecosystem, we have a single sign-on, Bir ID, and the Bir Bonus loyalty program that connects our products and strengthens user benefits. This gives customers extra motivation to try more of our digital services and incorporate Bir into their daily lives.

It’s a combination of all of the above factors, as well as Azerbaijan’s favorable macroeconomic backdrop, that’s driving faster adoption of digital banking, cashless payments and eCommerce in Azerbaijan. While the Bir ecosystem already reaches around half of the country’s population, we still see a significant upside from Azerbaijan’s continued transition from a cash-based economy.

How important are banking and payments in fueling customer retention across the wider Bir ecosystem?

Banking and payments play a central role in driving customer retention across the wider Bir ecosystem because they create both trust and convenience for users. Managing Azerbaijan’s largest local eCommerce platform, Birmarket, has shown us that the growth of eCommerce is closely tied to the availability of seamless payments and accessible lending solutions. In many ways, banking and payments are not just complementary to eCommerce. They are essential to its expansion.

The banking and payments sectors are also more mature than eCommerce in Azerbaijan in terms of customer adoption and trust. Through Birbank, we are able to extend that established trust into the broader ecosystem, making customers more comfortable engaging with digital commerce services. A significant share of Birmarket’s GMV is supported by financing provided through Birbank, which demonstrates how integrated financial services directly enable customer activity and repeat engagement.

The Bir ecosystem’s interconnected model creates a much stronger customer experience overall. Users can discover products, access financing, make payments and manage their finances within one ecosystem, reducing friction and increasing loyalty over time.

Where is Bir currently seeing the most tangible business impact from AI deployment?

The most tangible impact we see today is in customer operations. Around 40% of contact centre requests in our organisation are already handled without human involvement. For simple and repetitive queries, AI can respond much faster and more consistently than a traditional support model. For more complex cases, where there is risk, ambiguity or non-standard logic, people remain firmly in the loop.

We are also seeing a very clear impact in product development. Some features that previously required one to two weeks of development can now be implemented in around two hours.

At the same time, we are careful about how we deploy AI because we operate in banking, payments and eCommerce, where trust, data protection and reliability are critical. The goal is not to remove people from every process, but to use AI where it improves speed, quality and customer experience while keeping the right controls in place.

Looking ahead, one of the most important areas of adoption is set to be AI-based navigation across the Bir ecosystem. As customers use more services across banking, payments, eCommerce, travel and other verticals, AI can help make their journey more intuitive.

What does the future vision for Bir look like over the next five years?

We are already the leading digital integrated ecosystem in Azerbaijan, so we want to build on that foundation to transform Bir into the primary digital platform powering everyday economic life in the country. We want Bir to become the go-to platform in the digital economy of Azerbaijan, seamlessly connecting payments, commerce, lending, loyalty, mobility, and digital experiences within one ecosystem.

The goal is to create a platform that is so intuitive and integrated for consumers that it becomes part of their daily habits. For merchants and entrepreneurs, Bir should become a growth engine, which provides not just payments but also access to customers, financing, data-driven insights, and digital business tools. In the long-term we believe that ecosystems like Bir will shape how economies operate digitally. Our ambition is to lead that transformation in Azerbaijan by building a platform that serves millions of users, empowers businesses of all sizes, and sets a new benchmark for innovation, convenience and inclusion in the region.