Bankers note an increased demand from merchants for the installation of POS terminals. "We can say with complete confidence that the demand for installing terminals in the first half of the year was justified, despite the fact that the first half of the year is always inferior to the second in terms of quantity and quality. We achieved a 90% increase in turnover compared to the same period last year," says Natalia Narimanova, Head of the Acquiring Business Department at Finance and Credit Bank. "Demand for installing payment terminals began to be felt in 2012. It is constantly growing and will continue to grow. While banks previously sought out clients on their own, today merchants themselves turn to banks to install POS terminals. This is due to the initiative of the NBU and the Cabinet of Ministers on the mandatory installation of a terminal in retail outlets with an area of ​​more than 20 m2, as well as the determination of the maximum amount of cash payments between an individual and a business from September 1, 2013, the limit of such an amount is UAH 150 thousand,” continues Vitaliy Bachinsky, Deputy Director for Retail Business at Nadra Bank.

The National Bank has so far published statistics only for the first quarter of 2013 - a 5.4% increase in the number of payment terminals. Igor Gerasimchuk, Head of Remote Sales Channels at Forum Bank, predicts that in the second half of the year the number of operating terminals will grow by another 8-10%. “The forecast for the next half of the year is quite optimistic. "Today, we can confidently say that the annual plan will be fulfilled in full," says Natalia Butkova, Head of the Partner Relations Department at UkrSibbank and UniCredit Bank&trade, with confidence in the future.

Furthermore, experts have identified enterprises that are experiencing the highest demand in 2013. "POS terminals are being actively installed by small and medium-sized businesses in large cities such as Kyiv, Donetsk, Kharkiv, Odessa, and, in the summer, the Crimean region," says Natalia Kuzmich, Head of the Alternative Channel Development and Sales Support Department at UkrSibbank. "It was mainly small retail outlets (kiosks) in Kyiv and the Kyiv region that became more active," says Nikolai Mavrienko, Deputy Head of the Card Programs Department at Khreshchatyk Bank.

At the same time, according to experts, despite the increased activity of small merchants, the percentage of refusals to install terminals by banks is not high and has remained unchanged in recent years - 1-2% of the total volume.