As part of the Rostov Region Resident’s Card project, the Rostov Region’s Ministry for Information Technologies and Communications, the Regional Centre for Information Systems (autonomous state institution, Rostov Region), Don State Technical University, Rostovtransport LLC, and Center-invest Bank have started testing the first universal electronic cards (UEC) on the card-based electronic services that have already been introduced in the Rostov region.

On 26 September, the Regional Centre for Information Systems, a federally mandated organisation for the UEC project, received the first universal electronic cards from Federally Mandated Organisation UEC (Moscow) for testing. To ensure that the cards are compatible with the Rostov region’s existing infrastructure, they are being integrated with Center-invest Bank’s banking system, transport applications that allow e-payments for public transport, and medical and other applications that enable the region’s residents to obtain e-services. The cards have been tested at Don State Technical University so that they can be used in a campus system.

In November 2011 Center-invest Bank was the first regional commercial bank to sign up to the UEC project. The bank already had a successful track record of working on the Rostov Region Resident’s Card project (20,000 active cards to date) and it continues to be a leader in this field.

"Center-invest Bank, working together with the Regional Centre for Information Systems, has set up ten desks in its branches where Rostov region residents will be able to apply for and receive a universal electronic card," says Yury Bogdanov, Deputy Chairman of the Executive Board of Center-invest Bank. "We plan to have doubled this number by the end of 2012. Given that Center-invest Bank has its own processing centre and our success in implementing the Rostov Region Resident’s Card project, the population of southern Russia can depend on the region’s very own bank for the efficient and high-quality servicing of the universal cards."

In Krasnodar Krai Center-invest Bank has also signed a Cooperation Agreement with the federally mandated Centre for Innovative Technologies. Under this agreement, the bank is actively helping to create and develop the infrastructure required to provide citizens with state, municipal and commercial services in electronic form using UECs.

The universal e-card is a unified federal standard. It will replace all the social cards issued locally by the constituent members of the Russian Federation. It will also replace many other documents, for example, mandatory medical insurance policies, student cards, and travel documents.

The main advantages of the universal electronic card are that not only does it combine various functions and capabilities in a convenient integrated social and banking product, but there is also endless scope to further expand the card’s functionality and integrate it into everyday life.

Drawing on best international practice, Center-invest Bank offers its customers the very latest bank card services, provided by its own processing centre in southern Russia. Center-invest Bank is a technology-focused bank, and this has been recognised not only by our retail customers, but also by government organisations. Together with the Federal Treasury Department for the Rostov Region, Center-invest Bank has streamlined the process by which publicly funded organisations receive money from the government.

Thanks to electronic document exchange between the Treasury and the bank, publicly funded organisations no longer need to use cheque books and paper-based applications to receive funds. Instead, they are issued with special corporate bank cards, which they can use in the bank’s ATMs or at one of its branches, of which there are already 140 in southern Russia.