The International money transfer system MoneyGram signed the agreements with two national post operators of Kazakstan and Moldova in order to expand the network of its agents.

The National Agency for Financial Studies (NAFI) undertook a survey on the recognition of different banks: spontaneous name recognition and recognition with a prompt.

Armeconombank started issuing accumulative cards. According to the information provided by the head of Armeconombank plastic cards department, Vardan Egizaryan, accumulative cards is valid for 14 months, the annual interest rate is 9%.

For the first time in Armenia Converce Bank (Yerevan, Armenia) and the travel company Visa Concord offer a unique product – organizing vacation in Tunisia.

Russian Standard bank started issuing new co-branding card “Russian Standard – Visa – FIFA Classic”, dedicated to the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa. The card is being issued jointly by Visa and Adidas, with the support of FIFA and the Russian Football Union.

On May 18, 2010, in Moscow, at the Ritz–Carlton Hotel the first Russian Visa Infinite credit card, decorated with diamonds and inlaid with gold, was presented. Promsvyazbank will be the issuer of these new cards. The blank cards for Promsvyazbank will be supplied by INPAS Company.

By the beginning of May, 2010, Rosselkhozbank issued 484,000 cards. Only from the beginning of 2010 Bank’s clients have got about 160,000 cards.

United ATM network of Ukrsotsbank and its partners as of January 1, 2010, exceeded 8,700 machines.

On April 26, 2010, web–portal of online–purchases Goodlet.ru was launched in Runet, practicing innovative approach in the industry. Its developers promise to make a revolution in the market using consumers’ knowledge and experience and modern social Internet possibilities.

Bank Standard (Baku, Azerbaijan) issues a new credit card – “Subscriber” – for mobile subscribers of contract tariff plans. Each subscriber, whose average monthly payment is more than 50 manats ($62), can get a 10,000 manat ($12,000) line of credit within the period of 36 months.

On April 29, 2010, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia made the decision to decrease the official bank rate and interest rates on some operations of the Central Bank since April 30, 2010, by 0.25 per cent from 8.25% to 8%.

Since April 26, 2010, Rosselkhozbank abolishes all loan applications processing and loan issue fees under all personal loan programs.

According to Igor Schegolev, Minister for Communications and Mass–media, the electronic digital signature will be introduced in Russia.

According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, as of April 1, 2010, banks of Kazakhstan issued 7.837 million cards for 7.387 million cardholders. These figures are by 12.4% and 12.8% respectively higher than they were a year ago.

Orenburg branch of AGROPROMCREDIT Bank and Department of Social Development of Orenburg have signed the agreement, which provides the residents an opportunity to get social payments, benefits and compensations via ATMs or offices of AGROPROMCREDIT Bank in Orenburg.

According to the online–survey held by RUmetrika Company among Internet users, 45% of Russian respondents cannot live without Internet. Though less than a year ago, the same was declared by 49% of respondents.

Sberbank of Russia has chosen outsourcing call–centre “Beeline” as a promoter of Sberbank’s products and services. They will conclude an agreement on rendering of telemarketing and incoming messages processing services.

As of April 1, 2010, there were 2,013,615 BelCard–M cards in circulation, or 25.4% of all cards Belarus banks issued.

On April 16, 2010, the International Forum “M-com / E-com and banking. Russia & CIS 2010” was held at the International information-exhibition center “InfoProstranstvo” (Moscow). The main theme of this Forum was the potential of productive cooperation between banks and payment systems, telecom operators, Internet shops, retail networks, vendors, integrators and the existing market operators in order to create effective payment infrastructure for mobile/electronic commerce.

During the first three months of 2010 Oktyabrskaya Railway sold 158,600 tickets on long–distance trains via self–service transaction terminals. And more than 269,900 tickets were booked via Internet.

In March, 2010, in Armenia the volume of electronic utility payments and e–Commerce transactions increased by 14% as against of February and totaled 482 million drams ($1.2 million) or 26,029 operations.

MTS could become an alternative to the banks, wishing to join the National payment system. In order to do so the mobile operator only needs to change the status of subscriber’s accounts to make them equal to bank accounts.

M.Video retail network announced the results of the tender held among the banks providing consumer crediting service.

In April, 2010, National Corporate Bank started issuing and acquiring MasterCard cards of Mass, Gold and Platinum categories. MultiCard Company provides processing of card personification and authorization requests and settlements with the payment system.

As of April 1, 2010, HSBC Bank Armenia (Yerevan) issued about 50,000 cards. According to Astrid Klifford, CEO of HSBC Bank Armenia, Bank issued 33,216 debit cards and 14,856 – credit cards.

Mobile TeleSystems Company (MTS), Sberbank of Russia and MasterCard payment system announced launching the new co–branding debit Sberbank MasterCard MTS card.

CONTACT System, relying on functioning banks of Kyrgyzstan, keeps transferring money actively. Banks of Kyrgyzstan, members of the System, provide CONTACT services all across the country. Transfers to Kyrgyzstan are being made in usual mode.

According to Sergey Kalyuzhny, Deputy Head of the Federal Migration Service of the Russian Federation, since March 1, 2010, in Russia over 292,000 passports of new generation with 10 year period of validity have been issued.

During the first quarter of 2010, VTB Bank (Armenia) issued cards by 32% as much as during the same period in 2009; reaching 70,250 cards. VTB Bank (Armenia) issues only cards of Visa international payment system, and also serves local ArCa cards.

Aeroflot – Russian Airlines Company and MegaFon Mobile Network agreed to install MegaFon base stations on boards of Aeroflot airliners. Aeroflot and MegaFon are the first in Russia to provide passengers with mobile and Internet services during the flights.

Company J'son & Partners Consulting has published its new market research on social networks in Russia, Eastern Europe and CIS.

StatBanker financial statistics agency published the review of 2009 financial results of the Russian debit and credit cards market, and also the forecast of possible dynamics of some key market indicators in 2010. Despite the recession in 2009, experts believe, that this sector starts improving.

MoneyGram International announced a significant expansion of its money transfer services in Vietnam as Sacombank and Eximbank join the company's agent network, growing the countrywide network by 30 percent.

VeriFone Holdings, Inc. unveiled VX Evolution, delivering the next generation of its popular VX payment solutions family with market-leading enhancements including integrated contactless and end-to-end encryption.

In March 2010 the volume of money transfers from abroad constituted 81.8 million USD, which is 21.2 million USD or 35.0 percent more than the same amount for March 2009. During this period the volume of remittances significantly grew for Russia (by 13.1 million), Greece (by 2.2 million) and Ukraine (by 1.6 million), as well as for several other countries.

During the first quarter of 2010 the number of cards issued by ACBA-Credit Agricole Bank increased by 2.4% – to 83,700 cards.

One million individual Alfa Bank card holders have subscribed to the Alfa Check service.

Holding its regular research “Retail Market Monitoring. Banks” the company Profi Online Research defined the key factors defining the choice of the bank to issue debit card. This research has shown that, as of the end of 2009, 37% of 7,100 Russian respondents had debit cards.

As of January 1, 2010, Southwest Bank of Sberbank of Russia issued 2.022 million cards, it is by 20% as much as it was as of the beginning of 2009.

Coalition discount program IntellectMoney has celebrated its first year on the Russian market. During this period more than 500,000 people used company’s services – just so many discount cards IntellectMoney has issued since the program started.

Sberbank of Russia will insure responsibility of German Gref, its President and Chairman of the Board, and members of the Board for $100 million. This is one of the largest insurance coverages for the Russian company management.

According to Moscow Bank of Sberbank of Russia, as of April 1, 2010, over 5 million cards were issued by the Bank. As of the date of the Bank foundation (November 2, 2009) all Moscow offices of Sberbank together issued 4.4 million cards.

SIAB Bank is marketing a special offer for retail networks. All merchants, which are the Bank’s cash collection service customers are offered acquiring services at the reduced rate, and overdraft credits secured by cash collection or acquiring turnover as additional services.

The first special offer under a new discount program “City map” of Home Credit and Finance Bank (Home Credit Bank) will be valid from April 19 till May 9, 2010. Any card holder can buy 2 items at Intersport or Sportland shops and get a 20% discount, or 30%  for buying 3 items.

International Forum “M–com/E–com and banking. Russia & CIS 2010” will take place at the International information-exhibition center “InfoProstranstvo” (Moscow) on April 16, 2010. The main topic of the Forum will be interaction of the banks and payment systems, telecom operators, Internet shops, trading networks, vendors, integrators and the existing market operators in order to establish an effective payment infrastructure for mobile/electronic commerce.

Consumer credit portfolio of Bank Koltso Urala (Yekaterinburg) has exceeded the rate of 1 billion roubles. Bank started offering consumer loans in January of 2010.

MasterCard Incorporated announced that Ajay Banga, currently MasterCard’s president and chief operating officer, has been named by the Board of Directors to serve as the company’s president and chief executive officer, effective July 1, 2010. The company also announced that Banga has become a member of MasterCard’s Board of Directors, effective immediately.

According to the Ministry of Transport and Communications of Ukraine, for the first quarter of 2010 more than 15,000 railways tickets were bought online.

NXP Semiconductors, the market leader in RFID chips, today introduced its latest UHF solutions for the fashion, retail and electronics markets. The UCODE G2iL and G2iL+ enable leading-edge read ranges based on a simple, cost-effective single antenna solution.

From April 1 till April 30, 2010, Russian Standard Bank is running a special marketing campaign “Cash without commission”, when bank card holders will not pay any commission for withdrawing cash via ATMs or bank’s cash points on account of the loan.

Aeroflot – Russian Airlines Company announced widening the geography of Internet flights registration. Now Internet registration service is available in 32 cities – both in Russia and abroad.

The milestone 100th ATM of Bank Levoberezhny has been installed in Novokuznetsk.

During the first three months after Belavia started selling flights tickets online, over 2,000 tickets were sold. They were paid by cards issued by banks of more than 50 countries.

Ukreximbank (Kiev, Ukraine), licensed for American Express card acquiring in Ukraine, has chosen Ukrinbank (Kiev) as its agent for servicing merchants, which accept AmEx cards.

According to Ilya Massukha, Adviser to the Minister of Communications, just before the end of 2010 in Russia the state e–mail service will be launched.

DemirBank (Baku, Azerbaijan) card holders can get a 5% discount in the network of perfumery shops “Ideal” (Baku).

ROSIIA Insurance Company joined the list of insurance companies – partners of BNP Paribas Bank (100% subsidiary of BNP Paribas Group), after it proved compliance with bank’s requirements to the insurance companies.

ATMs of Rosbank and Center-Invest Bank now accept cards of China UnionPay (CUP), the largest national payment system in the world.

WebMoney Тransfer system has provided their Ukrainian users with an option to pay traffic infraction fines by WMU. Service is available on ukrbuy.com.

Kedr Bank (Krasnoyarsk) started servicing China UnionPay cards.

According to the poll of the All-Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM), almost 50% of Russians have a home personal computer, and 38% - are regular Internet users.

MnOGOcardka social discount system, launched in Rovno (Ukraine) in the middle of January, 2010, by the Fund of Princes–philanthropists Ostrozhskykh, will cover 6 regional centers of Rovno region.

Bank of Moscow shared its data on card fraud in 2009 with MSK insurance group. According to it in 2009 bank’s customers lost about 15 million roubles due to fraud operations (approximately 1,500 cards), in 2008 the figures were much less – swindlers have stolen only 7.5 million roubles.

Using monitoring and surveillance solutions offered by BS/2 Company for self-service bank equipment, a criminal group installing data capture devices in the ATMs was detected in Riga.

Now any credit or consumer card holder can get a virtual card of Alfa Bank. Until recently such cards were available only to those who had current or salary accounts.

In Megion (Urals town) 300 veterans of the World War II and workers of the home front will get life-long discount cards of the Russian discount system “Zolotaya seredina” free of charge.

According to MTS annual report, the monthly payment of the MTS subscriber during the crisis 2009 decreased from 261 to 247 roubles (by 5%).

Online marketplace eBay is going to launch a local version of its web–site in Ukraine.

The savings bank book that has been an indispensable attribute of Sberbank for two centuries is passing.

Since April 1, 2010, not all the terminals will provide an option to pay for mobile and utility services. As of today only 50% of terminals meet the requirements of the Federal Act 103. Due to this discrepancy an owner can be obliged to pay up to 30,000 roubles of penalty or even to shut down payment devices.

Irkutsk branch of My Bank offered its individual clients consumer credits in Chinese yuans. Clients can borrow up to 250,000 Chinese yuans ($36,000) for 12 – 36 months.

Tieto has provided a payment card solution to Kapitalbank that enables VISA payment card processing automatization. The solution consists of issuing, acquiring, switching, clearing and fraud management. Kapitalbank offers a full range of financial services to commercial as well as to the private sector of Uzbekistan. 

Investtorgbank launches a new service for card holders – card–to–card money transfer via bank’s АТМ.

Mordovian regional branch of Rosselkhozbank has issued more than 30,000 cards. Its ATM network in Republic of Mordovia totals 82 machines.

According to Andrey Korolev, President of Russian Europay Members’ Association, the statistics shows that card fraud losses in Russia at present approximately by 4.5 times as less as in the world in average. 

According to Newspaper of Kemerovo, within April of 2010 in Kemerovo all single travel card holders will travel by the land municipal transportation on special price.

As of March 1, 2010, 21 second-tier banks and JSC «Kazpost» realise issue of payment cards.

Since April 1, 2010, Alfa Bank improves conditions for the customers – credit card holders. Those customers who have good credit history can take part in the activation campaign.

Due to the Federal Act 103 “On activity of payment agents in accepting private payments” all merchants accepted payments with use of mobile payment terminals (POS terminals) now are in real trouble: since April 1, 2010 all POS terminals should be equipped with cash registers.

Sovcombank, a partner of Zolotaya Korona Payment System, starts issuing credit cards of this payment system with a credit limit up to 30,000 roubles and a 30–months crediting period (24 months – expiration date of the credit card and 6 months – repayment of actual debts on the end of the expiration date of the card).

On March 25, 2010, ROSPROMBANK made its first transaction – cash withdrawing – as a new member of United Card System (UCS). Now customers of ROSPROMBANK can withdraw cash from their accounts under special tariffs in more than 5,000 ATMs and cash points all across Russia.

Representatives of the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation are ready discuss putting  e–cash within the limits of the bill on the National Payment System (NPS). The recommendations concerning e–cash issue have been sent to the Bank of Russia: it is a question of introduction of the special license for this kind of payments, different to bank license.

According to Igor Kudrin, Deputy Head of Banking Technologies Department of Lanit Company, the potential of Armenian ATM market is over 70 ATMs to be installed per annum. He declared this during the presentation of recent models of ATMs and Teller cash recycler (TCR) of Diebold Company, held in Yerevan.

SIAB Bank (St. Petersburg) starts offering a service of urgent Visa and MasterCard card issue. Card issue takes 15 minutes and is carried out at bank’s head office. The bank issues urgently Visa Electron, Maestro, VisaClassic/Gold, MasterCard Standard/Gold cards in roubles, US dollars and euro.

Rosselkhozbank plans to increase the number of cards issued to 1.5 million cards till the end of 2010.

If a European online merchant concludes a contract with Cashtransfer24 service and draws a personal WM certificate, it will be able to make payments via WebMoney payment system and get discounts for entering, withdrawing and exchanging of title signs.

On March 26, 2010,the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia made the decision to decrease the official bank rate and interest rates on some operations of the Central Bank since March 29, 2010 by 0.25 per cent from 8.5% to 8.25%.

Primsotsbank (Vladivostok) starts issuing and servicing “Zeleniy Koridor” (“GREEN CORRIDOR”) customs cards.

At present, the united ATM network ATMoSphere (Ukraine), founded in 2005, totals 2,632 ATMs installed by 21 Ukrainian banks.

Following the results of 2009, Promsvyazbank issued by 21.3% cards more than a year ago - more than 756,000 cards (as of January 1, 2010). The share of credit cards (overdraft cards) in the issue totals 10.2%, and the share of salary cards – 71%.

The number of co–branding projects keeps growing in Russia, while in the western countries the process in inverse. While the largest players of the American retail market are closing their co–branding card projects, Russian banks, on the contrary, intend to use them as the revival retail tool. At the same time, Russian banks are going to develop co–branding projects on the basis of credit cards.

Kirov branch of Volgo–Vyatskiy Bank of Sberbank of Russia has issued more than 300,000 cards. The anniversary MasterCard Standard card has been issued within salary project for an employee of one of the Kirov’s firms.

According to Abc.az, Visa payment system has come to an agreement with Azerbaijan banks about NNSS (National Net Settlement System) system introduction in the country.

TSYS announced today it has signed a multi-year payment services agreement with Caterpillar Financial Services Corporation, the financial arm of Caterpillar Inc. Under terms of the agreement, TSYS’ industry leading TS2® platform will be used to process commercial credit accounts.

The Central Bank of Armenia (CBA) has reported, that Armenian banks within the period of January – February, 2010, increased the volume of lending by 57.1%, to 89 billion drams ($221 million) as against of the similar period of 2009.

Tieto has provided PASHA Bank in Azerbaijan with a total package for establishing the bank's card business operations. Implementing Tieto's Card Suite issuing solution will enable the bank to increase the number and quality of payment products and services it offers to its clients.

On March 19, 2010, Bank processing center has personalized the 2,000,000th BelCard card with a magnetic strip.

Belarus e–ticketing service Bilet.by, launched in June, 2009, has expanded its functions. Now with the web–potral Poezd. Bilet.by Internet users can book railway tickets online.

On March 21, 2001, Chelyabinvestbank launched the system "City" – a new technological concept to accept and process individuals' payments.

Far Eastern Bank of Sberbank of Russia has introduced a discount system for employees of companies – members of salary card project. Salary card holders can get a 10% discount on the base interest rate.

Bank Levoberezhny (Novosibirsk) has launched a new product for individuals – credit cards with a limit up to 100,000 roubles and a 30–days grace period. The interest rate on this credit card is 23% per annum; and it is free of the loan fee.

Since March 17, 2010, Sape Company has provided an option to pay for services by payment cards. This step, according to the company specialists’ research, should essentially simplify the payment process for individuals.

CONTACT International remittances and payment system demonstrates a steady growth of its operating results in Moldova.

On March 17, 2010, Russian Post has presented the first post office of Business format. It is the main post office of Ryazan, reconstructed under the program of post office modernization, the federal post operator renewed some time ago.

According to Kuandyk Baetov, Chief of Passenger Traffic Department of the Center of Passenger Transportation of Astana (Kazakhstan), a new service – mobile account replenishment – is being tested in public transport of Astana.

On March 16, 2010, the number clients of Russ–Bank Internet banking system reached 20,000.

Nurbank has got a certificate on the compliance with the international standards of payment card security - PCI DSS v.1.2.

On April 16, PLUS Journal will hold in Moscow 1st International Forum “М-com/Е-com and banking. Russia & CIS 2010”, dedicated to the analysis of the urgent problems of the industry’s development in Russia and CIS, ways to solve them and foreseeable prospects.

Voronezh branch of NOMOS Bank launches a new service – private banking. It is going to get a 10% share of the region’s market of VIP banking services (app. 1.1 billion roubles) by 2012.

According to Ruben Khachatryan, Deputy Director General of Areximbank – Gazprombank Group (Yerevan, Armenia), Bank intends to reach 69,000 cards issued till the end of 2010.

Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) has started issuing Visa Infinite cards encrusted with brilliants and platinum. According to Alexander Nikolashin, Chairman of the Board, this card has no equivalents in Russia. He noticed, that these cards would be issued in very limited number – it was expected that there would be just 100 of them.

Remittances from abroad to Georgia in February of 2010, increased by $9.4 million, or by 17.9%, as against of the similar period of 2009, and totaled $61.7 million dollars.

Kazkommertsbank (Kazakhstan) has summed up 2009 results of its GoCard! bonus loyalty program. The total number of purchases made on members’ cards has increased by 145%. In total, from the start of the bonus program in 2005, Bank has issued more than 900,000 cards, and 100,000 of them were issued in 2009.

According to the Association "E–cash", Russian e–cash market in 2009 really demonstrated high growth rates. The number of those Russians who used “e–wallets”, reached approx. 20 million people, and the total turnover of the industry exceeded 40 billion roubles.

Tieto has achieved the ISO 9001:2008 quality standard for its Cards business in Latvia, demonstrating continuous commitment to high standards of quality in its operations. The audit covered the processes for developing solutions for payment card issuing, acquiring and processing, as well as payment card system integration, consultancy and training.

Russian Europay Members’ Association has joined the European ATM Security EAST Team and has become a Russian representative in this organization.

As of March 1, 2010, Belinvestbank (Minsk, Belarus) issued more than 608,000 cards.

In February, 2010, in Armenia the volume of utility payments and e–Commerce transactions totaled 424 million drams (about $1 million), and the quantity of transactions – 22,986.

The Russian Government has approved the amendments to the Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, under which swindlers manufacturing and using counterfeit cards, will be imprisoned for 2 – 8 years with the penalty from 100,000 to 1 million roubles depending on the size of the caused damage. Such legislation toughening will protect not only card holders, but also bank–issuers.

NCT, a developer and supplier of customized business solutions, has accomplished the installation of Petrol Plus loyalty and fleet cards system at the petrol stations of Engen Petroleum in Rwanda, Africa.

According to the last research of PricewaterhouseCoopers auditing company, the recession has boosted the development of e–Commerce all over the world. Customary business of retailers and FMCG producers are facing big challenges in these times of unprecedented economic instability.

According to J'son and Partners Consulting, in January, 2010, the number of SIM cards registered in Russia increased to 209.1 million cards. Now the mobile penetration in Russia as a whole is 147.3%, and in the license zone of Moscow – 186.2%. The total growth of subscribers in January, 2010 reached 0.78 million (0.38%).

TSYS announced it has signed a multi-year payment services agreement with Degussa Bank of Germany to provide a broad range of products and services for its corporate and business clients.

Andrey Donskikh has been appointed as the Deputy Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia.

The number of users of SKB–Bank Internet service “Bank–Na–Divane” (“Bank–On–Sofa”) has exceeded 15,000 persons. And for the first 2 months of 2010 the number of service users has increased by one third (in December of 2009 Bank got its 10,000th client).

From April till July of 2010 in Dubna (Moscow region) a pilot “Social card for Moscow region resident” project will be implemented. Then it's planned to test the social card in Odintsovo. And the full–scale issue of Social cards for Moscow region resident will start in 2011.

HandyBank Payment Banking System offers its users a new easy–to–use service – Train.HandyBank, which allows to get tickets on Russian Railways long-distance trains day and night. An opportunity to book and to pay for tickets is available via any computer, PDA or mobile phone everywhere in the world.

The conditions of the agreement include the delivery of the Wincor Nixdorf’s mono– and multifunctional ATMs and the service support of ATMs in the territory of the Russian Federation.

The Russian Government has approved amendments to the Article 187 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation, Anatoly Aksakov, Deputy of the State Duma and President of the Association of Regional banks of Russia, brought for consideration to the Lower House of the Parliament.

According to Jonathan Knaus, Regional Vice–President in Eastern Europe & CIS of Western Union, in 2009 the total volume of remittances from Russia reduced by 30%.

According to the press–office of Armeconombank (Yerevan, Armenia), as of March 1, 2010, Bank issued 82,600 cards – 17.8% of all cards banks–members of ArCa payment system issued, and 24.6% of all local cards in the country.

From the beginning of 2010, Zapsibcombank has increased issue of classic and premium cards: over 6,000 customers have chosen premium ones.

According to the National Bank of Moldova (NBM), in January, 2010, the volume of individuals’ remittances to Moldova totaled $63.39 million, and $50.82 million of them were transferred via international remittances systems. 47.5% of remittances were in US dollars 46.1% – in Euro, and 6.4% – in Roubles.

According to Ara Karyan, director of RASCO insurance company (Armenia), the company together with its London reinsuring partner prepares the offer for Armenian banks of commerce on the complex bank risk insurance program BBB (Bankers Blanket Bond).

Management of Mail.Ru and Molotok.Ru have discussed the future of e–commerce in Russia.

URALSIB Bank is going to increase its card issue in 2010 by 20–30%, without cards on social programs.

NXP Semiconductors announced a major milestone for its ICODE product line, as the company successfully shipped over its billionth ICODE chip.

According to Vedomosti, Vkontakte.ru, a Russian social networking website, develops its own payment system. The representative of Vkontakte.ru said that the company didn’t make its plans on new projects public beforehand.

Z-Payment Company has signed the partnership agreement with Moneybookers electronic payments system. This agreement enables Russian Internet shops to accept all kinds of cards, to get direct bank remittances from abroad and payments from Moneybookers wallets.

At the end of 2009 a new Bank Privilege Program cooperative loyalty program was launched. The partner network of the project has united over 200 companies from 5 cities of Russia which provide participants of the program with discounts from 5% to 20%.

Novosibirsk Municipal Bank (NMB) started issuing Zolotaya Korona smart cards with the Novosibirsk single travel card application to pay for trips on the municipal public transport, including the Underground.

According to the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB), in the fourth quarter of 2009 in Belarus the total amount of individual persons’ card operations increased by 20.7% as against of the similar period of 2008, up to 11,714 billion Belarus roubles ($3.9 billion).

For today every second card issued in the region of Northern Bank, is the card of Sberbank of Russia. Every day Bank adds approximately 1,000 new card holders.

Russian version of Ukash system’s website (Great Britain) offers various ways to buy Ukash vouchers all across Russia. Before Ukash system distributed vouchers only via its official representative – Wallet One payment service.

Gazprombank launched Gazprombank Express Card with functions of the Moscow Underground travel card. Gazprombank Express Cards are available for holders on the basis of Visa Electron and Visa Classic.

The Administration of Novosibirsk confirmed the regulation on launching from June 1, 2010 the Municipal discount card for the first grade pupil to cut parents’ expenses on preparing their children for school and expenses within an academic year.

Abkhazia intends to create a national payment system to issue and support cards, including cards of international payment systems. Sergey Bagapsh, the President of the country, has signed an appropriate decree.

A new railway e–ticketing service, selling tickets on trains throughout Russia, in CIS and Baltics – vokzal.ru is launched in Runet.

Russian Regional Development Bank (RRDB) introduced its new product – pension card, which is a part of bank’s comprehensive program for pensioners.

AsiaUniversalBank (AUB) starts offering overdraft feature on Elkart salary cards.

Research published by Retail Banking Research (RBR) shows that NCR Corporation (NYSE: NCR) is the world’s largest supplier of multivendor ATM middleware and applications.

Focused on finding effective ways to strengthen cash management and consolidate operational efforts while reducing costs, The Palmetto Bank of Greenville, S.C., recently enlisted Diebold, Incorporated to implement a comprehensive self-service outsourcing solution.

Bank Avangard starts issuing credit cards with the first grace period up to 200 days.

NXP Semiconductors announced fourth quarter sales of USD 1,130 million, a comparable increase of 8.0% over the third quarter of 2009 (nominal 9.3%) and a comparable increase of 12.6% over the fourth quarter of 2008. Sales continued to improve across each segment and region, with the exception of the Home business segment.

Tieto has acquired T&T Telecom. Through the acquisition, Tieto continues its growth strategy and strengthens its telecom competence in Russia.

Obschestvennoe Mnenie Foundation (“Public Opinion” Foundation) has published the results of the research of the Internet regular audience and offline and online users of financial instruments.

Sberbank of Russia, the General partner of the XXII Olympic Winter Games Sochi–2014, and Visa Inc., the Global sponsor of the Olympic Games, have signed the Cooperation Agreement as Sochi Olympic Games partners–sponsors.

According to StatBanker financial statistics agency, inhabitants of Chukotka Autonomous District are the biggest ATM cash withdrawers.
The average sum of the withdrawal is 10,360 roubles. Moscow (incl. Moscow region) takes only the second place: inhabitants of this region withdraw cash from their card accounts, 8,455 roubles at a time, in average.

Technical experts of PrivatBank (Kiev, Ukraine) have developed an alternative to traditional POS–terminals for private entrepreneurs. Thanks to the novelty small and medium merchants, and also almost every interested person now have an opportunity to accept non–cash  payments made by cards without any additional investments into the expensive equipment.

LEADER International Money Transfer System and TRUSTBANK (Tashkent, the Republic of Uzbekistan) announced the launch of joint project on deployment of LEADER System service points in TRUSTBANK offices in Uzbekistan.

Bank Societe Generale Vostok (BSGV) and Rosbank united the functionality of their ATMs across all Russia. Now all customers of BSGV and Rosbank can use ATM of both banks commission free.

VeriFone Holdings today announced a multimillion-dollar order for a portfolio of its leading payment solutions by Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank.

X5 Retail Group and MasterCard Worldwide signed the service agreement for a new Perekrestok’s project. As a part of the project the co–branding cards will be issued together with Citibank.

From the beginning of 2010, within the limits of terminal network development program Rosselhozbank has installed 97 ATMs. Now the card service network of the bank totals 1,925 АТМs and more than 1,500 cash points.

The Ministry of Economy of Ukraine suggests approving conditions of merchants’ transfer on compulsory acceptance of special means of payment for goods (or services).

American Express Company and Sberbank of Russia launched a joint action “50 US dollars travellers cheque for purchase”.

The bill on the development of the traffic penalties information system in Russia was introduced at the State Duma of the Russian Federation.

German Gref, President and Chairman of the Board of Sberbank of Russia, and Alexander Tkachev, Governor of Krasnodar region, signed the agreement on intentions between Sberbank of Russia and Administration of Krasnodar region. The agreement concerns the questions of Social card project implementation in the region.

According to the quarterly research of Portmone.com payment system and web–portal MoneyNews, in the fourth quarter of 2009 Raiffeisen Bank Aval (Kiev, Ukraine) is still the leader among TOP10 banks issuers of cards mostly used by Ukrainians to pay for goods and services in the Ukrainian segment of the Internet.

Belarusbank (Minsk, Belarus) is the first bank, issued 1 million BelCard–M cards of BelCard national payment system, in the country.

On February 19, 2010, the State Radio Frequency Commission desided to allocate RF bands in the range of 1710-1785 and 1805–1885 MHz to provide mobile services aboard. So, it’ll be possible not only to talk on mobile or send SMS aboard, but to use mobile Internet as well.

Bank of Moscow started issuing MasterСard credit cards of three types: Unembossed, Standard and Gold.

DemirBank (Baku, Azerbaijan) started issuing GBP Visa cards.

VASCO Data Security Inc., a leading software security company specializing in authentication products, today announced its DIGIPASS as a Service (DaaS) authentication model. DIGIPASS as a Service (DaaS) is the newest service solution added to VASCO’s existing end-to-end authentication product suite. DIGIPASS as a Service (DaaS) goes beyond simple Authentication as a Service with a complete platform that incorporates the user, the enterprise and e-commerce. As such, DIGIPASS as a Service offers on demand identity and transaction security.

Visa Inc. and DeviceFidelity Inc. announced plans to market an innovative solution that can enable a mobile phone with a memory card slot to be used as a Visa mobile payment device.

On February 19, 2010, the Board of Directors of the Bank of Russia made the decision to decrease the official bank rate and interest rates on some operations of the Central Bank since February 24, 2010 by 0.25 per cent up to 8.5%. 

In January, 2010 Belarusbank (Minsk, Belarus) became the first bank in the country which issued 4 million cards in total.
Now its share of cards in circulation in the Republic is 51.6%.

On February 17, 2010, the first multipurpose online air ticketing service with use of cards – BELAVIA.BY – was officially launched in Belarus.

In March, 2010, online–auction eBay will officially launch its Russian version. The company expects that translation of the web–site into Russian will help to increase eBay audience in Russia and the quantity of goods Russians exposed to sale.

MTS has prepared proposals for the bill “On the National payment system”, suggesting to give telecommunication operators the status of National payment system members. 

Since February 10, 2010, Ural Bank for Reconstruction and Development (UBRD) introduced a new product – Pension Card, based on Visa Electron card.

In January 2010 the volume of money transfers from abroad constituted 56 million USD, which is 5.2 million USD or 10.3 percent more than the same amount for January 2009.

Dmitry Medvedev, the President of Russia, instructed IT companies to build up in the next few years a system to provide governmental and municipal services in electronic form all across Russia. The electronic social card, based on the national payment system card products, will be used as an identifier to get access to the System.

In January, 2010, Armenian card market demonstrated 30% growth of active cards in comparison with January, 2009, (as of February 1, 2010 there were almost 457,000 active cards).

Soon, all members of the Trade Unions Federation of Bashkortostan will get discount cards.

At the beginning of this February the first Internet search and air ticket purchase Russian-language service  “аnywayanyday” achieved a record daily turnover of $100,000.

As information web portal www.plusworld.org has reported, at the meeting of the Russian Government’s Commission for Regional Development, held on February 8, 2010, in Ufa, Sberbank of Russia and URALSIB Bank demonstrated options of a new unified federal information and payment system “Universal Electronic Card” (see Sberbank of Russia and URALSIB integrate social projects).

The online ticketing system, selling Belarus Railways (BZD) train tickets via Internet, now is at a beta testing stage.

According to the National Bank of Moldova (NBM, Banca Nationalaa Moldovei), the volume of individuals’ remittances to Moldova from abroad via banks of commerce in 2009 totaled $1,182 billion, and it was by 28.8% less than in 2008.

TSYS today announced that it has been chosen by Cedacri, Italy’s leading provider of outsourcing services to the banking industry, to provide card and payments services to Cedacri’s clients. Cedacri will utilize TSYS’ fully outsourced processing solution, TS Prime.

According to the Department of external and public relations of the Bank of Russia, on February, 8, 2010, the monetary base (narrow definition) equaled 4,420 billion roubles against 4,403.1 billion roubles as of February, 1, 2010.

Russian banking community is going to set up an insurance fund for troubled corporate loans at its own expense. This innovation will be discussed at the meeting of the Banking Committee of the Russian Union of Industrialists and Entrepreneurs (RSPP).

Bank of Moscow has simplified the list of essential documents to get a "Bystrokredit" (Express credit). If earlier an official receipt of the customer’s income (an earnings certificate and a hard copy of the work record) was a compulsory condition, so now a driver's license and a vehicle certificate or a foreign passport with a mark about border crossing during last 6 months are sufficient.

According to the experts of METKOMBANK (Kamensk–Uralsky, Sverdlovsk region) the number of METKOM–ONLINE remote banking system users keeps growing. Within several months 2,000 customers started to use this system. 

VTB24 and Ural Airlines announced the start of a new product – VTB24 – Ural Airlines MasterCard co–branding card, developed specially for frequent fliers.

Igor Lipanov, acting Head of Individual Customer Settlement and Cash Services Department of Sberbank of Russia declared, that in May, 2010, United Russian Payment System (URPS, ex-SBERCARD) plans to start issuing PRO100 EMV cards.

Zolotaya Korona, a Russian payment system, summarized the results of its work in 2009.

Within 2009 Armeconombank (Yerevan, Armenia) increased the number of active MasterCard cards by 95%, up to 10,700 cards, and active local Armenian Card cards by 20% – up to 68,600 cards.

Wincor Nixdorf presents an end-to-end approach that enables efficient organization and control of the cash cycle and slashes the cost of cash handling in retailing. The solution consists of hardware, software and services. The concept not only provides closed cash cycles at stores, but also integrates the cash center and the chain between retailers and banks.

ROMIR Monitoring Research Holding has published the new data on visiting Internet shops in Russia.

Forum’s format: Conference.Exhibition. Round Tables
Number of participants: 300
Venue: Moscow

Organizer of the Forum:

On February 10, 2010, in the Head office of Sberbank of Russia (Moscow) Igor Lipanov, acting Head of Individual Customer Settlement and Cash Services Department of Sberbank, held a briefing, where he presented the results of Bank’s work in the field of card development within 2009.

According to Vardan Egiazaryan, Head of Card Operations Department of Armeсonombank (Yerevan, Armenia), bank carries on negotiations with Yerevan mayor’s office about the further implementation of TeenCard project.

On February 8, 2010, at the meeting of the Russian Government’s Commission for Regional Development, held in Ufa, Sberbank of Russia and URALSIB Bank demonstrated opportunities of a new unified federal information and payment system “Universal Electronic Card”.

The National Agency for Financial Studies (NAFI) presented results of the research on demand for insurance services in Russia.

According to the National Bank of Moldova (NBM, Banca Nationala a Moldovei) in 2009 the volume of transactions made by cards of Moldavian banks on the territory of the country, increased by 8.2% up to 12.7 billion leus (nearby $1 billion).

ARARATBANK (Yerevan, Armenia) is the first bank in Armenia, which issues DUAL–Classic M contactless cards, based on MIFARE technology.

UNIStream and Deutsche Bank (Frankfort on the Main, Germany) launched a joint project to enable refilling accounts in the largest Chinese banks via UNIStream cash points.

MDM Bank has opened new cash points for Zolotaya Korona cards in 49 cities in Kurgan, Orenburg, Sverdlovsk, Tyumen and Chelyabinsk, Perm regions and Udmurt Republic, Bashkortostan and Tatarstan (in 94 bank offices overall). 

Far Eastern Bank of Sberbank opened automated self-service banking office in Khabarovsk. INPAS Company delivered the “plug&play” office.

Sobinbank has started its Mobile banking system. This new service is available to all clients – Sobinbank card holders.

Russian Standard Bank and Zolotaya Korona payment system declared the commercial start of the joint project on accepting Zolotaya Korona cards in Russian Standard Bank’s acquiring  network.

The ongoing economic downturn both in the country and in the whole world has a great impact on the activity of institutions that offer financial services. Banks more often seek for new and effective ways to optimize work, which would help achieve the greatest efficiency of the activities performed.

VeriFone Holdings, Inc. today announced that its payment systems are being used by OTP Bank of Hungary in that country’s first rollout of MasterCard PayPass contactless cards.

PrivatBank (Kiev, Ukraine) has introduced a new service – “electronic change”. From February 1, 2010, customers, if they wish, can get not only coins, but also electronic vouchers, as small change in bank cash desks, or to enter it to the account, tied to the mobile phone.

Following the results of 2009 customers purchased goods and services on the sum of over 6 billion roubles via АТМs, POS-terminals as well as information and transaction kiosks of Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk.

As of the beginning of 2010 Sberbank of Russia had 21,294 public АТМs. For comparison, as of January 1, 2009, it had only 16,360 public АТМs.

The system of remittances “Zolotaya Korona – Denezhnye perevody” has summed up the results of 2009.  Within the first quarter of 2009 the share of the market of remittances grew from 4% to 10%.

Cash continues to be the number one payment medium. “Nine of ten payment transactions worldwide are made with cash. Our estimates show that this creates more than 300 billion dollars in costs, primarily for banks and retail businesses,” explains Eckard Heidloff, President and CEO of Wincor Nixdorf, at the opening of Wincor World 2010.

The National Bank of Kazakhstan (NBK) has developed the bill on creation and development of ecash system in the country. According to Vice–president  of NBK Batyrbek Alzhanov, the key purpose of this bill is to define a legal status of ecash and create a legal basis for its issue and use in Kazakhstan.

Svyaznoy Group and Promtorgbank decided to unite for a joint project to make a large full service bank on the basis of Promtorgbank.

Russian Post issued unified payment cards for universal telecommunication services which, from February, 2010, are available in all post offices across the country.

On February 3, 2010, the Federation Council of Russia approved the Act forbidding banks to change unilaterally interest rates for credits and deposits, and also the order of their definition, the size of commissions and validity periods of the contracts with individual customers.

TSYS is pleased to announce that it has signed Axia Payment Solutions, a payments hardware and software supplier. Under the terms of the new agreement, Axia will use TSYS' end-to-end business solutions to grow and manage its merchant base.

Bank of Moscow chose Rosan Company as the technological partner for migration on EMV cards of Visa and MasterCard payment systems in 2010-2011.

Credit Bank of Moscow (CBM) and Vantage Life Company concluded the contract on connection of bank’s card holders to a new client service – EQVILIBRIA.COM. Now bank customers can take part in the bonus loyalty program and get access to advantageous offers on set of goods and services. EQVILIBRIA.COM is the largest electronic client service in Europe, created specially for card holders.

By now, over 100,000 people have got discount “Minsk guest cards” (Belarus), and they are not only foreigners, but Belarus citizens as well. Today 140 companies–partners (340 points of sale throughout Belarus) provide discounts for these cards. The size of the discount varies from 5% to 20%.

According to J'son and Partners Consulting analytical company, by the end of 2009 the number of SIM cards registered in Russia increased up to 208.3 million pieces. Now the mobile penetration in Russia as a whole is 146.7%, and in the license zone of Moscow – 186.6%.

ChronoPay Company has published the next quarterly rating “TOP 10 of the banks which cards are used in Runet”. This is the rating of those banks which card holders, during the fourth quarter of  2009, used their cards to purchase goods in Internet more frequently than others.

In November, 2009 Alfa Bank (Ukraine) presented a new alternative channel of remote banking – “My Alfa Bank” which replaced the Internet banking system used in the bank. Within the first two months the system got more than 7,000 clients. All payments made via this new channel exceeded 11,000.

According to Gorkiy Railways (GZD, a branch of Russian Railways), in December, 2009, GZHD sold more than 46,000 e–tickets.

Rosbank has summed up the results of 2009 on its card business. Its issuing turnover on cards in 2009 grew by 12.3% and totaled 178.56 billion roubles, and the turnover on merchant acquiring – by 4.2% (up to 82.67 billion roubles). The volume of cash withdrawing transactions reached 164.64 billion roubles, and cash acquiring grew by 13.8%.

According to the results of the Internet users survey held by ROMIR Monitoring Research Holding, consumer demand in Runet Internet shops in 2009 demonstrated positive dynamics. You can see that, if you compare the results of the recent survey and the survey, held in August of 2008.

In 2009 the volume of payments individuals made in favour of organizations via VTB24 was by 1.5 times as much as against of 2008. All payments, VTB24 accepted in 2009 totaled more than 16 million: via ATMs – 84.73%, cash desks – 6.26 %, and Telebank system – 9.01%.

TSYS announced that it ranked No. 8 on the FinTech 100, an international listing of the top 100 global application/service providers in the financial services market. The rankings represent companies that derive at least 33 percent of their revenue from the financial services industry. TSYS ranked No. 9 on the list in 2008.

According to the National Bank of Kazakhstan, as of January 1, 2010, Kazakhstan banks issued 7.614 million cards, and it was by 6.2 % as much as against of January 1, 2009 (7.173 million cards). The number of card holders grew by 7.4% – up to 7.135 million people against 6.642 million a year ago.

According to Peter Prokopovich, Chairman of the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus (NBRB), the crisis was the reason why in 2009, Belarus suffered a reduction in consumer lending.

NXP Semiconductors announced that its MIFARE Plus contactless smart card CPU IC (MF1PLUSx0y1) has been awarded Common Criteria EAL 4+ certification by the German Federal Office for Information Security.

TSYS announced that China UnionPay Data Services Co., Ltd. (CUP Data), TSYS' joint venture with China UnionPay (CUP), has renewed its credit card processing contract with China Minsheng Bank.

Following the results of 2009, VTB24 expanded its ATM network by 1,800 machines. In the whole the number of ATMs in the bank network grown almost by 2 times and as of January 1, 2010, it totaled 4,100 machines.

RosEuroBank and a tour operator – Natalie Tours start issuing co-branded Natalie Tours – RosEuroBank – Visa cards.

On January 15, 2010, MnOGOcardka, a system of social discounts, was presented in Rovno (Ukraine).

Following the results of 2009, Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk has increased its card service network by 30%, and so has expanded considerably its range of services for card holders.

Banking Processing Center (Belarus) has summed up the results of 2009.

Artaka Anesyan, Chairman of Ameriabank (Yerevan, Armenia) predicts, that in 2010, in Armenia interest rates on credits will keep decreasing, and deposit rates are expected to get increased by 1% in average.

On January 27, 2010, at the Central office of Sberbank of Russia Natalia Karaseva, Director of Retail Credit Department of the Bank, held a briefing. She announced the start of a new bank’s project – Activation campaign for repaying debts.

Revolutionary mobile payment technology meets demands of the 21st century merchant.

According to the National Bank of Ukraine (NBU), within the recent 3 months of 2009 the number of active cards in the country was reduced by 1.5%, up to 29.1 million cards.

According to the National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT), the volume of remittances to Tajikistan in 2009 was reduced by 31.3% as against of 2008, and totaled $1.833 billion.

Creditprombank (Kiev, Ukraine) has introduced a new service – debit card ordering on its web-site or in the information center.
Ordering card this way, the customer gets a 10% discount of the standard (base) cost of the service.

Following the results of 2009 credit card portfolio of VTB24 has grown by 65%, and on January 1, 2010, it has totaled 20.6 billion roubles.
In 2009 Bank issued more than 2.7 million cards. And from the beginning of the year the general card issue of VTB24 increased by 55% and exceeded 7.7 million cards. As of January 1, 2010, the total number of cards in circulation (credit and debit ones) exceeded 5.8 million.

On January 19, 2010 the Government of the Russian Federation has adopted the Enactment #18 “On the statement of rules for rendering services to organize the passage of vehicles on the toll federal open highways and toll sites on them”.

190,346 ArCa, Visa and MasterCard payment cards were issued in 2009 within the Armenian Card payment system (ArCa).

According to the National Bank of Georgia, in 2009 the volume of electronic remittances from abroad via banks of commerce was reduced by 16% and totaled $841.6 million.

In 2010 Zapsibcombank has kept expanding the functionality of its ATM network and installing cash-in machines – in January some АТМs with cash-in function have been established in Nefteyugansk, Beloyarskoe and Salekhard.

BS/2, a company operating in the field of banking technologies, will be a golden partner at the exhibition Wincor World 2010, which will take place on 26-28 January 2010.

As of January 1, 2010, the total number of cards, OTP Bank issued, has exceeded 4.7 million pieces. In 2009 Bank issued more than 1.3 million cards, just keeping rates of issue of 2008.

Bashkortostan branch of the Russian Pension Fund and Ufa branch of Russ-Bank have signed the contract.

According to the data, as of January 1, 2010, the total turnover on Visa cards, issued by VUZ–BANK (Yekaterinburg), has increased by 15%, and on MasterCard cards – by 16%.

The world’s leading ATM manufacturer and service provider, NCR Corporation, has sold its 50,000th NCR SelfServ ATM, helping hundreds of financial institutions deliver improved service to consumers at the ATM channel through improved availability and increased transaction options.  Launched less than two years ago in the U.S., NCR SelfServ already is the most successful ATM brand launch in the history of the company, which has led the world in ATM shipments for 23 consecutive years (1).

According to the Minister of Labour and Social Development of Tajikistan Shukurdzhon Zuhurov, the volume of electronic bank remittances from abroad to the country fell down from $2.5 billion in 2008 up to $2 billion in 2009.

According to the Bank of Russia, for the fourth quarter of 2009 in Russia 43,190 counterfeited banknotes of the Bank of Russia were revealed.

In 2009 BelCard payment system has demonstrated a steady growth of its figures. As of the beginning of 2010 banks – members of BelCard system have issued 1.68 million BelCard-M cards. It has increased the number of cards for the year almost by 7 times and is going to double it in 2010.

Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona (Golden Crown) has expanded the area of Electronic travel card system implementation. From January 20, 2010, travel cards have appeared in Kemerovo.

In December, 2009 IBA company has supplied BPS–BANK with new models of wall–mounted information and transaction terminals (ITT) IBA Payment Terninal РТ230 with IBA Kiosk software. In January, 2010 such terminals have been established at stations of the Minsk underground.

Slashed budgets and reduced staffing numbers delayed many security initiatives in 2009, but the vulnerabilities didn’t retreat and will only intensify in 2010, Unisys security experts predict.

While a disaster of massive proportions, the Jan. 12 earthquake in Haiti nevertheless is boosting online giving and mobile payments in particular as U.S. donors seek the fastest way of putting their donations to work in the stricken country. As of 9 a.m. Eastern time Monday, more than 2 million donors had given $21 million in $10 increments to the American Red Cross’s Haitian earthquake-relief effort, according to Tony Aiello, chief executive of mGive, the technology platform of Mobile Accord Inc. Founded in 2005, Denver-based Mobile Accord works with 200 non-profit groups to raise funds via mobile devices.

Tieto has been named the fastest growing R&D outsourcing company in the Chinese mobile devices industry in 2009. The award was granted at the Mobile Industry Congress of China, organized by the government organization of the China Institute of Communication, in December 2009.

Raiffeisenbank has introduced Verified by Visa (VbV) technology for all debit and credit Visa Classic, Visa Gold, Visa Platinum and Visa Infinite cards.

ROSPROMBANK has declared about its successful certification to acquire EMV-cards in Visa payment system.

In 2009 the turnover of e-payments in hryvnia (Ukraine’s national currency) in WebMoney system has totaled 1.397 billion hryvnias ($268 million). That is twice more than in 2008 (663 million hryvnias, or $127 million).

According to research of Statbanker.ru, an agency on financial statistics, in 2009 Russian banks have got $2 billion of revenue on credit cards and it’s by $200 million dollars less than in 2008.

ATMoSphere, the united ATM network of 22 Ukrainian banks, has summed up the results for 2009. 

For 2009 the turnover of the international money transfer system UNIStream in Armenia has totaled $551 million, or over 50% of the Armenian market of remittances. For the accounting period the number of transfers has exceeded 712,400.

In 2009 Ukrainian Processing Center (UPC, Kiev, Ukraine) was constantly developing and launching new projects. The number of ATMs, connected to UPC, has increased from the beginning of 2009 by 4%, and reached 7,339 machines.

Following the results of the open tender URALSIB Bank and Social Security Department of Ivanovo region have concluded the state contract on servicing Social card project for Ivanovo region residents by the bank in 2010.

Statbanker.ru, an agency on financial statistics, has published the review on influence of seasonal factors on cardholders, based on the data of the Bank of Russia.

From December 1, 2009 Russian Railways Company has provided the passengers with an opportunity to book tickets on long–distance trains with numbers from 001 to 199 using  electronic registration system.

According to the Head of Visa and Registration Department of Russian Federal Migration Service (FMS) Alexander Aksenov, in 2009 all FMS divisions have issued about 4.5 million passports, it is approximately by 16% less, than a year ago.

Slovakia's electronic highway toll collection mega-project has been bumpy from its very inception. Nevertheless, the system – with a price tag of over €850 million – began operations on January 1, 2010. While its operator calls the launch of e-toll collection successful and problem-free, transporters and truck drivers lining up in 10-hour queues at border crossings are frustrated and are calling the launch a chaotic failure.

Ukrainian Cabinet of Ministers will consider the draft Enactment “Issues of transferring merchants on accepting special payment tools for the sold goods (services)”.

From the beginning of 2010 Primorye Bank (Vladivostok) provides its salary card holders with an opportunity to get a credit on the sum of 30,000 roubles and more, with the rate of 20%, for the period up to 3 years.

BPS–BANK (Minsk, Belarus) has started USSD–banking – the service expanding SMS–banking opportunities for MTS subscribers.

Alfa Bank starts issuing new MasterCard Express Metrocards. It’s an Express Card with a function to make underground fare payments contactlessly. It combines functions of contactless Moscow Underground travel card and credit card (with up to 60 days grace-period).

Finance and Credit Bank (Kiev, Ukraine) realised one more project on association of networks АТМ: the sixth participant united банкоматной to a network (ОБС) became ВТБ Bank.

At least one Auckland service station has started charging customers wanting to pay for their purchases by credit card.

Toronto-based Loblaw Companies Limited will upgrade more than 750 fuel dispensers at 200 locations across Canada with Gilbarco’s FlexPay EMV CRIND Card Reader in Dispenser. The new CRIND complies with EuroPay MasterCard Visa (EMV) payment system requirements as it is able handle “chip and PIN” debit and credit cards.

From January 1, 2010, all cards Moscomprivatbank issued, automatically participate in Bonus Plus program. When a cardholder buys something in the shop having program’s logo – Klubnika (Strawberry) – at first time, he or she gets automatically a bonus account, on which bonuses for purchases, made by his/her card, will be entered.

New Year holidays make people be the most active in buying that essentially raises traffic in processing centers. So, only during December 24, 2009, Bank processing center (BPC) processed the record number of requests on authorization in real-time – 2.85 million. So, the productivity level of the processing system at the peaks reached 80 processed requests on authorization per second.

Russian Post has declared the start of electronic exchange of international transfers with Lithuania from January 11, 2010.

Dresser Wayne, a global leader in vehicle energy dispensing technologies, has received PAN Nordic Card Association Unattended Payment Terminal (UPT) approval of the iX Pay Secure Payment solution on the Global Star and Global Ovation iX fuel dispensers.

BelCard payment system has published its short results of 2009. Following the results of 2009 the number of BelCard cards has exceeded 1.68 million. Belarusbank is the largest issuer of BelCard cards – 52.4% of all cards issued within the payment system.

In the context of an increase witnessed by retail sales online, from 0.60 percent of retail sales in 1999 to nearly 4 percent of total retail sales in 2009, new opportunities have emerged for payment providers.

Global Axcess Corp. has announced a new 16-month contract valued at $16,000 per month with a Southeastern U.S. grocery chain.

Tieto, a leading provider of B2B integration solutions in Europe, today announced it has been positioned by Gartner, Inc. in the challengers quadrant of the Magic Quadrant for Integration Service Providers.

Santander, the Spanish bank that now operates Abbey and Alliance & Leicester, has announced that its UK bank account holders will no longer pay to use its ATMs in Spain.

ARCOM group has got Bank Production Center (BPC) certificate. This certificate proves that ARCOM UNIVERSAL EMV POS/SV software ver.2.0 for Ingenico Telium/Unicapt 32 POS-terminals and PIN pads meet the requirements of SVFE_ISO8583_1R38 Protocol for terminals connection to Smart Vista Front-End processing system.

System CONTACT continues to implement the multilevel program of modernization directed on improvement of quality of servicing. One of steps to this direction was introduction of SMS informing service of of clients worldwide.

In December, 2009, Ural Bank of Sberbank of Russia has installed the 200th ATM with cash currency exchange function.

In December, 2009 Belvnesheconombank has got the certification to meet the requirements of BelCard system and from January, 1, 2010 it can issue and service magnetic stripe BelCard cards. Belvnesheconombank has become  the eighth bank of Belarus working with BelCard-M cards.