SİMA İmza digital signature accelerates Azerbaijan’s digital transformation

Azerbaijan is in the midst of a major digital transformation. The government is digitalizing processes and issuing the tools for people and businesses to complete them, while private sector organizations are integrating digital services and new ways for people to complete transactions remotely.

The country’s biometric digital signature app, SİMA Imza, is dramatically changing the way numerous day-to-day activities are carried out, by enabling secure online interactions between people, businesses and government agencies. The country is in the midst of a broader digital transformation, with secure digital identity and document verification as a key pillar.

SİMA represents the first biometric digital signature solution in the region, with nothing comparable in operation in the surrounding countries.

“Today, SİMA has digitized physical processes in areas such as taxation, customs, justice, education, healthcare, banking, and online commerce,” AzinTelecom Chief Commercial Officer Farrukh Farajullayev tells Biometric Update in an interview.

The mobile app combines public key cryptography with face biometrics for digitally signing documents. The digital signature can be easily verified to provide trust in the identity, credential or transaction attested to in the signed document.

SİMA Imza was developed by AzInTelecom (under AZCON Holding), and is free for all Azerbaijani citizens. Users can download the app from the Google Play or Apple App store, and then complete onboarding by scanning an ID, taking a selfie for face biometrics comparison, and assigning a PIN code. Facial recognition is also used for authentication to complete transactions.

The app has also been steadily adding new integrations and features. The latest example is a tool for users to delegate signing authority to another party for a certain transaction with a QR code, launched just weeks ago.

The SİMA Imza app was launched in 2022, and has been downloaded 5.5 million times, surpassing half of Azerbaijan’s total population, estimated at 10.4 million, earlier this year.

A pillar of Azerbaijan’s digital ecosystem

Digital signatures have full legal status in Azerbaijan. The country passed its original law on e-signatures back in 2004, and further laws and regulatory amendments have given them legal status for a range of interactions in the public and private sector. Documents can be electronically signed by government bodies, businesses, citizens, and since 2023, foreigners residing in Azerbaijan.

The SİMA İmza app added support for foreigners with either permanent or temporary residence permits, easing their access to government and business services.

When they were first introduced, e-signatures were attached to documents by attending a service center in person and paying a fee. The businesses community and government  embraced e-signatures, but their use was not convenient enough for most individuals. The process was then moved online, where its speedy update by citizens and foreign residents prompted institutions to accelerate the digitization of service delivery.

The SİMA Imza app can therefore be used for interacting with a wide range of institutions and platforms, such as for banking, court, customs, tax, mobile notarization, education and healthcare services, the first in the region to offer this functionality. There are 22 licensed banks in the country, 17 of which have adopted SİMA Imza so far.

The use case where SİMA Imza has gained the most traction so far is employment agreements, 98 percent of which are now completed with the app, Farajullayev says. Completing employment agreements in this way if more convenient for new employees, and critically reduces administration costs for businesses.

“Entrepreneurs can now submit their tax reports using SİMA,” explains Farajullayev. “Doctors can send their patients their certificates digitally. People can send and receive court and notary documents online using SİMA. Banks can now handle tasks such as signing loan agreements and submitting customs declarations remotely. This means that citizens do not have to wait for their paperwork outside of business hours, even if they are abroad.”

For the relying party, whether a business or government entity, document authenticity is easily verified by opening the signed document within the user’s SİMA account and clicking on the Signature Panel near the top, or by clicking on “check document” within SİMA Imza.

The result is that Azerbaijanis can now complete a wide range of tasks remotely, easily and with confidence in their security.

SİMA Imza’s growing role in everyday life

Farajullayev says work is underway to add more integrations to SİMA Imza, further expanding the services it can be used for. AzInTelecom plans to eventually extend the app into all service sectors to allow them to deliver their services digitally, without requiring customers to visit their offices in person.

SİMA Imza has now integrated around 100 partners, and Farajullayev anticipates dozens more will begin using the platform in 2026.

Transactions with the app are increasing rapidly, and the total has surpassed 60 million per year.

Beyond more users and more integrations, the next steps anticipated for SİMA Imza also include enabling foreign citizens in Azerbaijan to use it for interactions with government and private institutions, and working with the business community to make it the go-to method for daily interactions.

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Article Topics

Azerbaijan  |  AzInTelecom  |  biometrics  |  digital government  |  digital identity  |  document verification  |  electronic-signature  |  financial services  |  selfie biometrics  |  SİMA Imza