pravda.com.ua
At the same time, 37% of the adult population in Ukraine have no bank accounts, Andreieva said.
CEO of Mastercard Europe SA Inga Andreieva says Ukraine ranked fourth in the world in terms of the number of contactless payments made via mobile devices, including e-bracelets, and smartwatches.
Ukraine's high results in NFC [near field communications] transactions are seen in statistical data covering the fourth quarter of 2018, according to the official, who spoke at a conference set up by the European Business Association on January 29.
According to the Andreieva, this indicates the demand for the latest payment technologies and Ukrainians' ability to learn quickly.
Read alsoCashless payments in Ukraine to account for up to 20% of all transactions in 2019 – EBA forecast
At the same time, there is more potential for growth, she said referring to a study conducted by Mastercard.
Some thirty-seven percent of the adult population in Ukraine still have no bank accounts. Only 38% of small and medium-sized businesses are ready to accept cashless payments. In Europe, this share exceeds 60%, according to the CEO of Mastercard Europe SA.
Andreieva says both regulation and the development of cashless payments are required in Ukraine to improve these indicators.
Increasing inclusion by a mere 10%, Andreieva says, will raise the country's GDP by 0.3%. That would be UAH 9.3 billion [US$334.3 million] in absolute terms.
As UNIAN reported earlier, the share of cashless transactions with payment cards in Ukraine in January-September 2018 grew to 44.3% from 39.3% posted as of January 1, 2018, according to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU).