Visa makes the smartphone the new cash register for the world’s small businesses

Visa today outlined a series of AI, stablecoin, and token capabilities designed to help clients across the Central and Eastern Europe, Middle East, and Africa (CEMEA) region participate in the next generation of commerce. Ahead of the Visa Payments Forum, taking place in Paris on July 1, Visa shared how two foundational shifts — artificial intelligence and stablecoins — are transforming the front-end and back-end of commerce and money movement, and how Visa is enabling clients to adapt, scale and build trusted new experiences.“Commerce is entering a new phase that is increasingly intelligent, programmable, and embedded into everyday experiences,” said Tareq Muhmood, Regional President, CEMEA, Visa. “For companies serving the digital economy the opportunity is significant, but so is the need for trust and interoperability. Visa is focused on providing the infrastructure and intelligence to innovate confidently across the front- and back-end of payments and deliver better experiences for the consumers and businesses they serve.”Powering the Front End of Commerce with AIVisa detailed how AI is reshaping how transactions are initiated, authorized, and trusted, while also accelerating how new commerce experiences are designed, developed and delivered. As AI agents increasingly act on behalf of consumers and businesses, Visa Intelligent Commerce, the company’s platform for agentic commerce, provides the trust and controls needed for AI agents to securely discover, initiate, and complete transactions.To support this shift, Visa is working across the ecosystem to help ensure agent-initiated transactions are transparent and trusted. This includes merchant enablement through the newly launched Agent Score, created with New Generation, which allows merchants to evaluate their websites for agentic commerce readiness — specifically, whether AI agents can navigate, understand and complete tasks on a merchant’s website.  Merchants also need to know which agents can be trusted to transact on their sites, and agents need confidence that they are interacting with legitimate merchants. With the launch of Agentic Directory, Visa is providing a directory that includes agents and merchants that have been verified as legitimate participants in agentic commerce.Enhancing Tokens for AI-Driven CommerceOne of the key drivers of eCommerce growth in the CEMEA region has been the growth of tokenization, bringing more secure, convenient and seamless payments to the region across eCommerce and mobile channels. In CEMEA, Visa has seen a rapid increase in tokenized transactions, growing from 26% in 2023 to 70% in 2026.Today, tokens already carry a highly secure data set purpose-built for digital payments. As commerce extends to new channels and agents, Visa is enriching the data to provide more details on the transaction type, where the token is being used and who is making the payment. A second key advancement is a token assurance signal. Token use is evaluated throughout its lifecycle — based on provisioning and behavioral history — to generate a signal of trust behind each transaction.Together, these advancements help strengthen the role of tokens as a foundation for trusted digital and AI-driven commerce, giving clients richer context and stronger assurance as transactions become more automated, embedded and intelligent.Modernizing the Back End of Money Movement with StablecoinsVisa shared progress in modernizing settlement and value transfer through stablecoins and blockchain-based infrastructure. With Tokenized Deposits, the company will build the technology layer that can allow banks to turn traditional deposits into programmable, always-on digital money. This gives banks a way to match the speed and flexibility of stablecoins while keeping funds on balance sheet.Visa is also expanding stablecoin settlement pilots across multiple regions, blockchains and currencies. Building on its first stablecoin settlement pilots in early 2025, Visa has moved billions of dollars in stablecoins across VisaNet, with an annualized run rate of approximately $7 billion as of March 2026. With issuing banks already settling seven days a week onchain with Visa, Visa is working to extend seven-day settlement to include acquirers, increasing flexibility and frequency across the entire ecosystem. Since launch of stablecoins settlement capabilities a year ago in CEMEA, settlement volumes have increased nearly 60 times.To enable consumers and businesses to spend stablecoin balances anywhere Visa is accepted, Visa continues to expand stablecoin-linked card programs. With more than 160 programs live or in development globally, adoption is expected to accelerate.Leveraging AI to Turn Insights into IntelligenceTo help clients respond to rising customer expectations, Visa is combining modern infrastructure with data-led capabilities that can support better decision-making across the payment journey. The company is introducing an AI-powered travel intelligence capability that helps banks anticipate customer travel needs before a transaction occurs. Launching today in CEMEA, Visa Trip Intelligence combines VisaNet intelligence with third-party data and can infer travel intent, generate personalized trip itineraries and provide activation-ready insights, enabling banks to deliver timely pre-travel support, reduce payment friction and offer more relevant benefits, services and experiences to customers while they travel.About VisaVisa (NYSE: V) is a world leader in digital payments, facilitating transactions between consumers, merchants, financial institutions and government entities across more than 200 countries and territories. Our mission is to connect the world through the most innovative, convenient, reliable and secure payments network, enabling individuals, businesses and economies to thrive. We believe that economies that include everyone everywhere, uplift everyone everywhere and see access as foundational to the future of money movement. Learn more at visa.com.ge. 

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According to the NBG's interactive statistics, as of June 25, cash in circulation amounted to 7.2 billion GEL. The balance on refinancing loans amounted to GEL 4.4 billion (decreased by 1.5 billion in May, by 100 million in June). The volume of overnight loans decreased to 2 billion GEL.At the same time, the NBG's foreign exchange trading on BMatch increased: net purchases in April-May exceeded $966 billion, almost 2 times more than the trade in January-February. Which increased foreign exchange reserves.The growth of reserve assets is also affected by foreign exchange transfers received by the government, interest income on reserves, and the revaluation of monetary gold.In March, the NBG sold more currency than it bought, and accordingly, net sales were 16.2 million USD.NBG's share in total foreign exchange trade by month

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According to the National Bank of Georgia, as of 01.06.2026, loans worth 73.4 billion GEL have been issued. Of these, 31 million GEL are equivalent to foreign currency credits, the rest - 57.6% are denominated in the national currency.11.02 billion GEL is in the portfolio of resident legal entities (GEL 32.22 million). 21.2 billion GEL is in foreign currency. Dollarization of the corporate portfolio has increased to 65.8% since the beginning of the year (01.01.2026 - 64.6%).Lending to individuals is 38.7 billion GEL, annual growth is 16.4% (L/m +16.5%Y.Y)Banks by credit portfolio

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Bektenov said that Kazakhstan considers Georgia an important strategic partner and reliable friend in the South Caucasus, while Tbilisi has a special role to play in strengthening the transport and logistics connection between Central Asia and Europe.According to the Kazakh Prime Minister, during the first four months of 2026, the trade turnover between the two countries amounted to $53 million, and over the past 20 years, investments from Kazakhstan to Georgia exceeded $570 million. According to him, more than 600 companies with Georgian capital operate in Kazakhstan.Olzhas Bektenov also stated that the Kazakh side is interested in launching new joint projects and expanding industrial cooperation, including in the fields of food processing, petrochemicals, logistics, construction materials and manufacturing.According to Irakli Kobakhidze, the meeting also discussed issues of increasing trade and investment, strengthening regional connectivity and further deepening people-to-people relations.A Georgian government delegation arrived in the Kazakh capital, Astana, on an official visit on June 29. As part of the visit, Irakli Kobakhidze has already met with Kazakh President Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, with whom the sides discussed bilateral cooperation and prospects for cooperation in the fields of transport and logistics during both face-to-face and expanded meetings.Following the meeting between Tokayev and Kobakhidze, Georgia and Kazakhstan signed a declaration on strategic partnership, and several interdepartmental agreements were also signed in the fields of culture, tourism, and technology.The Georgian delegation includes Vice Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Maka Bochorishvili, Minister of Economy and Sustainable Development Mariam Kvrivishvili, Minister of Environment Protection and Agriculture Davit Songulashvili, and Head of Government Administration Levan Zhorzholiani.

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Traditionally dedicated to discussions on global financial market developments, the event brought together central bank governors from around the world, heads of international financial institutions, and leading economists. During the Annual General Meeting, financial sector representatives reviewed key challenges and opportunities facing the global economy.As part of the event, the BIS General Manager presented the Bank’s Annual Economic Report to participants, with particular focus on strategic directions for global macroeconomic policy. Discussions also covered the management of digital risks in the era of artificial intelligence and the safe integration of innovative products into the financial system.“Participation in the Basel International Forum strengthens the National Bank of Georgia’s active engagement in global financial processes and provides an important platform for sharing experience with partner central banks in the areas of modern technologies and economic policy,” said Natia Turnava.The Annual General Meeting of the Bank for International Settlements was also attended by Christine Lagarde, President of the European Central Bank.

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In May 2026, compared to the same period of the previous year, the estimated real growth in following activities contributed significantly: Financial and insurance activities, Information and communication, Manufacturing, Transportation and storage.Decline was registered in Construction.

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According to the document, Lion Finance Group (BGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 108.70/share (-4.98% w/w and -0.18% m/m). More than 217k shares traded in the range of GBP 106.50 - 116.20/share. Average daily traded volume was 83k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of BGEO shares traded was at 0.50% of its capitalization.TBC Bank Group (TBCG LN) closed the week at GBP 44.68/share (- 1.37% w/w and +0.18% m/m). More than 239k shares changed hands in the range of GBP 43.90 - 46.22/share. Average daily traded volume was 63k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of TBCG shares traded was at 0.43% of its capitalization.Georgia Capital (CGEO LN) shares closed at GBP 38.85/share (-6.83% w/w and -3.48% m/m). More than 179k shares traded in the range of GBP 37.65 - 42.35/share. Average daily traded volume was 42k in the last 4 weeks. The volume of CGEO shares traded was at 0.52% of its capitalization. 

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The authors of the joint lawsuit sent to Strasbourg are: “Social Justice Center”, “Civil Society Foundation”, “Fair Elections”, “Institute for the Development of Freedom of Information” (IDFI) and “Safari”. The organizations applied to the European Court for legal response on October 15, 2025.According to “Fair Elections”, the European Court granted the aforementioned lawsuit the status of a case with significant impact (Impact Case). This decision means that the Strasbourg Court is assessing the scope of the case in advance and believes that it can have a significant impact on the practice of the Court itself, national legislation and broader human rights and public issues.“The commencement of the substantive examination of the case in this mode is an important message to the Georgian authorities that any action aimed at restricting civil society activities, criminalizing human rights activities and persecuting independent organizations will be subject to international legal assessment and cannot remain without an appropriate response,” the organization said in a statement released on Monday.

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