Turkey has ranked first in Europe for the last five years in terms of the number of debit and credit cards in the country, surpassing the U.K. and Germany, according to InterBank Card Center (BKM) Vice General Manager Cenk Temiz.

As of the end of 2018, there are a total of 214 million cards in Turkey, with 148 being debit cards and 66 million credit cards.

Speaking at the meeting titled "Turkey's Payment Method TROY," which was held at the Conference Hall of the Necmettin Erbakan University (NEU) Faculty of Engineering and Architecture, Temiz emphasized that they aimed to boost the use of TROY cards.

Pointing out that approximately 5.5 billion card transactions are processed in Turkey on an annual basis, Temiz said that a large portion of them, 97 percent, are made in the country. "Now that we make nearly 5.5 billion card transactions every year and 97 percent of them are made inside the country, then why should all commissions go to foreign companies abroad? From this point of view, we initiated efforts in 2012 to introduce our own payment method, TROY. In 2017, we launched it to customers."

Temiz remarked that TROY has been implemented under the umbrella of BKM with the joint efforts of the Turkish banking and financial sectors, continuing, "Our main goal is to bring Turkey closer to a cashless society in 2023 as much as possible. Currently, 38 percent of total consumption expenditures are made using cards. Ten years ago, it was about 15 percent. These rates are around 75 percent even in northern European countries. If we can bring the rate to 50 percent, we will have done a good job."