Business Payments in Georgia: Card Acquiring, Online Checkout and Transfers

A business in Georgia usually runs into two practical money questions: how to take payments from customers, and how to move money between accounts, including accounts outside Georgia, without losing much to fees.

Card Payments in Store: POS Terminals

Card processing (acquiring) rates come in tiers and depend on which bank issued the customer's card. On a standard TBC Bank terminal, for example, cards issued by TBC itself cost 1.5% (minimum 0.1 lari), cards from partner banks cost 1.7%, and other Georgian cards cost 2%.

Foreign cards cost 2.4%, or 1.6% when the customer pays with dynamic currency conversion (DCC). The money lands in the merchant's own account the same day, with no aggregator in between. If a terminal's fees for the month add up to less than 50 lari, the bank charges the difference.

Bank of Georgia and the other banks follow a similar logic, but their exact figures are commercial terms that each bank agrees with the merchant individually and can revise later. Before you sign up, ask several banks for their current rate instead of relying on figures from the internet.

Cash Payments and the AML Threshold

Most types of business can accept cash without any limit. The 30,000 lari threshold in Georgia's anti-money-laundering law applies to dealers in precious metals and stones: they verify the buyer when a single cash purchase, or a series of linked purchases, goes above that amount.

A store, a cafe or an IT company reports nothing to the Financial Monitoring Service itself. The same law places that duty only on obliged entities: banks, exchange offices, payment providers, notaries, auditors, dealers in precious metals and a few others. An ordinary business faces these checks only at its own bank, which may ask for documents on the origin of the money when it deposits a large amount of cash.

For most retail stores and everyday services this rarely comes up. It matters for sellers of expensive goods, where a single cash sale can cross the threshold.

Taking Payments Online: Payment Gateways

BoG iPay, the online gateway of Bank of Georgia, accepts Visa, Mastercard, American Express, Apple Pay and Google Pay. The shopper can choose an online installment plan at checkout, and the bank sets the fee for each store individually.

Online card processing through TBC E-Commerce costs 2% on Georgian cards and 2.5% on foreign cards, plus 0.4% for payments through Apple Pay. The monthly minimum is 50 lari: if the fees come to less than that, the bank charges the difference.

A single purchase through TBC E-Commerce is capped at 1,500 lari, and on foreign card transactions the bank holds a 10% reserve plus a fixed 500 lari for 6 months. Payze, a Tbilisi startup backed by Y Combinator, serves online stores, including Shopify stores, and also operates in Uzbekistan.

Beyond the big players there are smaller providers (Credo, Flitt, UniPay and others) with similar terms: 1.5-3% on card payments, 0.5-1.5% on local payment methods, a 0.5-2% markup on currency conversion, a one-time setup fee of 100-500 lari and payouts within 1-3 business days.

Flitt publishes its prices: 2.2% on Georgian cards (2% at a turnover of 10,000-50,000 lari) and 2.5% on foreign cards, with payouts within 24 hours in lari, dollars or euros. It requires a TBC account. Stripe does not serve companies from Georgia, so online checkout here runs through local gateways.

Only a registered business can connect a gateway: an individual entrepreneur in Georgia or a Georgian LLC. The second requirement is a business bank account in Georgia, because without one the setup does not even begin.

Transfers Within Georgia: Phone Numbers and Instant Systems

Bank of Georgia launched transfers by phone number in September 2025 together with Basisbank, and ProCredit Bank and Credo Bank have signed agreements to join. The money reaches the recipient's account instantly at any hour, the limit per transfer is 10,000 lari, and there is no cap on the number of transfers per day.

Keepz, a separate system, runs around the clock across several banks at once (Silk Bank, Tera Bank, Pasha Bank Georgia, Credo Bank, Basisbank), supports lari, dollars and euros, and allows up to 100,000 lari a day.

International Transfers: SWIFT and the Alternatives

Banks price an outgoing SWIFT transfer as a percentage with a floor and a cap. Companies have a different fee schedule from individual customers, so check the exact rate for your account with the bank before your first transfer.

An incoming SWIFT transfer to Georgia at Bank of Georgia costs 0.2%, minimum $15. The final cost can grow by $15-40 if a correspondent bank on the payment route is not named in the payment details and deducts its own fee separately.

A transfer takes from one to several business days. If the payment currency does not match the account currency, the bank converts it automatically, usually not at the best rate.

For small regular payments, Wise Business often works out cheaper: the transfer uses the mid-market rate, and Wise charges only its own fee, with nothing for SWIFT or correspondent banks. The account is opened in the company's name under its tax number, but you cannot pay taxes to the Revenue Service from it, only from an account at a Georgian bank.

For large amounts, a classic SWIFT transfer can work out cheaper if the bank caps its fee for companies.

Fees and Contract Terms to Check

Mir cards do not work in Georgia, and cards from banks under international sanctions may not work either in Georgia or outside it. That is worth checking in advance if your business expects customers or partners from those jurisdictions.

When choosing a payment gateway, ask about the settlement currency (most settle only in lari, and multi-currency options are the exception) and the payout schedule. Keep in mind that card processing rates in Georgia are not set by law: they are commercial terms, and as your turnover grows you can usually negotiate them down.

Under most contracts, a refund does not return the processing fee already withheld on the original sale. A chargeback, meaning a forced reversal of the payment by the card network after a customer dispute, usually brings a separate penalty on top, no matter who was actually at fault. Check both clauses line by line before you sign, because providers rarely mention them on their own.