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Payments/TM/sanly-kart

Sanly kart

Sanly kart ("Digital Card") is a phone app from Turkmenistan's Halkbank that stands in for the plastic Altyn Asyr card. You download the app, apply for the service at a Halkbank branch, and then pay by holding the phone to a terminal (NFC). If your phone has no NFC, the app shows your card as a QR code instead [1] [2]. This is Halkbank of Turkmenistan; Türkiye's Halkbank and its FAST TR QR codes are a different bank and scheme.
Country Turkmenistan (TM)
What it is A phone app that puts your Halkbank Altyn Asyr card on the phone, paying by NFC or a QR code
Banks or providers Halkbank (Türkmenistanyň «Halkbank» paýdarlar täjirçilik banky) only
Since Presented at a government meeting in November 2023 [3]
Cost The app is a free download [2]; no fee for it in Halkbank's tariff that we could find
Typical limit Not published
Reaches Turkmenistan only
Code on paper? No. The code is on your phone screen, made from your card

How Sanly kart came to Turkmenistan

  • August 2020: QR first planned for the merchant app. When Halkbank prepared its Halkbank Terminal app for shops, it said it planned to add a QR code ("Quick Confirmation of Payment") to that app in retail and service outlets [4]. By then another bank, Rysgal, had launched its Rysgal Pay e-wallet with QR payments (February 2020) [5] and payment by QR code in its mobile app (September 2020) [6].
  • November 2023: the Digital Card. At a government meeting, Deputy Prime Minister Hojamyrat Geldimyradov reported that Halkbank had developed "Digital Card" software for phones, through which the country "will introduce" contactless payment by NFC and QR code [3].
  • December 2024: in the list of live services. The state news agency's review of digital banking, as carried by nCa, lists "Sanly kart" among the services Turkmen customers can use [7].
  • 2025: more QR promised. A review for 2025 said work would "continue to create opportunities" for NFC and QR codes in payments [8].

Halkbank has published no user numbers for the Digital Card. For scale, it had 1,231,812 bank cards in circulation on 1 October 2026 [9].

How to use it

  1. Download the app. Halkbank offers "Digital Card" as a free download from its website, www.halkbank.gov.tm [2]. The homepage link is an Android installation file, not a store listing [10].
  2. Apply at the bank. To use the service, go to Halkbank's head office or any branch [2]. The bank's help line for it is +993 12 44-48-55.
  3. Pay by NFC. If your phone has NFC, pay contactlessly at the terminal, the same way you'd tap a card [1].
  4. Pay by QR. If it doesn't, the app generates your card as a QR code for the payment [1].

The bank's pitch is that you no longer need to carry your Altyn Asyr card [2]. The app pays from a Halkbank card; Barcoder found no sign that it carries other banks' cards.

Limits and fees

Halkbank publishes no separate limits for the Digital Card. When Halkbank introduced contactless card payments in 2020, the government report said a contactless payment is no different from a normal card payment in its SMS alerts, limits, number of operations and fees [4]. Halkbank hasn't said whether the same holds for the app. Paying at a Halkbank terminal carries no commission for the cardholder [11].

Limits change; check your bank's current terms.

Paying shops and businesses

The app is for paying at terminals in shops and service outlets [3]. Halkbank hasn't published which terminals read its QR code, or whether other banks' terminals do. NFC payment needs a contactless terminal; the bank's Halkbank Terminal app, for example, reads cards held to an NFC phone.

Paying across borders

Not offered. The Digital Card carries an Altyn Asyr card, and Altyn Asyr is a domestic scheme (Altyn Asyr). Halkbank has not announced payments abroad with the app.

How the Sanly kart QR code works

The QR code here is shown by the customer: the app turns your card into a QR code on your screen for the payment [1]. Halkbank doesn't say which devices read it. That is the reverse of the merchant-shown codes common elsewhere, such as the EMVCo merchant-presented QR, where you scan the shop's code. Halkbank has not published the code's format, so Barcoder can't say what it contains or whether it follows any EMVCo specification.

Barcoder's Halkbank QR standard page currently describes Türkiye Halk Bankası and Turkey's FAST TR QR code. That is a different bank in a different country, and it does not describe the Turkmen app.

Barcoder found no payment QR code on Turkmen bills: utilities and state fees are paid by card at a bank terminal or counter, or online with the card number [11]. Barcoder found no national payment QR standard in Turkmenistan.

Safety: your QR code is your card

Barcoder found no official Turkmen warning about a named QR or card scam. The app's QR code stands for your card [1], so Halkbank's rules for the plastic card apply to it [12]:

  • Never let anyone else use your card. Don't send a screenshot of your payment code to anyone.
  • Keep the PIN secret, and don't store it with the card or the phone.
  • If something looks wrong, contact Halkbank directly on its published numbers.

Sanly kart and the alternatives in Turkmenistan

Way to pay Best for Notes
Halkbank Digital Card (QR/NFC) Leaving the plastic card at home Halkbank customers only; register at a branch
Altyn Asyr card Any shop terminal, ATMs, utilities The card the app carries
Rysgal Bank QR Rysgal customers QR payments in Rysgal's app since 2020 [6]
Halkbank Terminal Shops taking cards on a phone The merchant's side

The country overview is in the (TM report).

Sources

  1. Halkbank, "Cards", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.halkbank.gov.tm/en/credit_cards
  2. Halkbank, "Sanly kart" page ("Hormatly müşderiler! …", in Turkmen), read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.halkbank.gov.tm/en/mobile-apps-cart
  3. Turkmenportal, "Contactless payment service will be introduced in Turkmenistan", 3 Nov 2023. https://turkmenportal.com/en/blog/69365/contactless-payment-service-will-be-introduced-in-turkmenistan
  4. Embassy of Turkmenistan in Georgia, "Cashless payments: Digitization in the sphere of consumer market and services", 23 Aug 2020. https://georgia.tmembassy.gov.tm/en/news/63732
  5. Trend, "Turkmen bank introduces mobile e-wallet service", 24 Feb 2020. https://www.trend.az/business/it/3195898.html
  6. Trend, "Turkmen Rysgal Bank introduces digitalization in payment system", 24 Sep 2020. https://www.trend.az/business/finance/3304359.html
  7. News Central Asia (nCa), "Digital Banking Revolutionizes Payments in Turkmenistan – 1,000x surge in non-cash payments over the past decade", 24 Dec 2024. https://www.newscentralasia.net/2024/12/24/digital-banking-revolutionizes-payments-in-turkmenistan-1000x-surge-in-non-cash-payments-over-the-past-decade/
  8. Turkmen hemrasy, "Turkmenistan will continue to work on the implementation of NFC and QR code systems for payments", 2025 (no day given), read 19 Oct 2026. https://turkmenhemrasy.gov.tm/en/news/1192
  9. Central Bank of Turkmenistan, "Bank cards" (statistics, state on 1 Oct 2026), read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.cbt.tm/en/payment/plastik_kart.html
  10. Halkbank, homepage ("Digital Card" Mobile Application, Download), read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.halkbank.gov.tm/en
  11. Halkbank, "Terminals", read 19 Oct 2026. https://halkbank.gov.tm/en/terminals
  12. Halkbank, "Safety rules", read 19 Oct 2026. https://www.halkbank.gov.tm/en/protection

Researched 19 October 2026. Limits and bank offerings change; the banks' own pages are authoritative.

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