Speaking to Spot, Usmanov said the Central Bank began negotiations with Apple and Google and launched technical integration work together with commercial banks and the national payment systems Humo and Uzcard after amendments to the country's personal data legislation came into force.
According to him, commercial banks are already actively working on integrating the services, including the card tokenization process.
Usmanov said the initiative is intended to support not only Visa and Mastercard cards but also those issued by Uzbekistan's national payment systems, Humo and Uzcard.
He added that the project is expected to bring "positive news" within the next couple of months. One or more commercial banks could become the first to launch the services, although one of the national payment system operators may also introduce them first.
The Central Bank official also confirmed that the regulator had already held talks with representatives of Apple and Google. According to Usmanov, the meetings took place in April and May this year.
