On 17 June at the St Petersburg International Economic Forum 2016, the Rostov region government, JSC National System of Payment Cards (NSPC), and Center-invest Bank entered into a trilateral cooperation agreement on information and payment services.
The agreement was signed by the governor of the Rostov region, Vasily Golubev, the general director of NSPC, Vladimir Komlev, and chairman of the executive board of Center-invest Bank, Yuri Bogdanov.
The parties have agreed to work together to promote the “Mir” national payment system. The system is operated by NSPC, which is wholly owned by the Russian Central Bank. The agreement also envisages the creation of a multifunctional “Rostov region resident’s card” on the basis of the Mir card, aimed at making more effective use of national retail instruments in the Rostov region.
The pilot project on issuing and acquiring Mir payment cards with resident’s card functionality will run for three years.
A working group has been set up within the Rostov region government. Headed by Alexander Levchenko, adviser to the governor, the working group comprises representatives of ministries, the Russian Central Bank, Center-invest Bank, and NSPC. Later this month the working group will develop a roadmap to implement the agreement.
“We will work together with the Russian Central Bank so that as many bank devices as possible (terminals, ATMs) in the Rostov region are ready to accept the Mir card,” Vasily Golubev said. “All of our regional banks have already made progress in this respect. Notably, the leading regional bank, Center-invest Bank, has already adapted more than 90% of its devices for the Mir card, and it has over 3000 in total. This is why we are signing an agreement with this bank on the further development of infrastructure and services based on multifunctional Mir cards.”
Yuri Bogdanov points out that the project does not require funding from the Rostov region government. Center-invest Bank is undertaking to invest at least RUB100m in developing the infrastructure to promote the multifunctional Rostov region resident’s card. The resident’s card will be based on the Mir card, best international practice, and Russian research and development.
Center-invest Bank was one of the first banks in Russia to participate in the Mir national payment system. We also took part in the pilot programme to test the issuing and servicing of the card.
“We are grateful to the heads of the Rostov region and to Center-invest Bank, one of the region's leading banks, for their support and participation in developing national payment and service instruments,” Vladimir Komlev said. “The signing of this agreement today shows that there is interest in socio-economic projects based on the Mir national card. The creation of a multifunctional card will not only allow residents to access various state, municipal, and social welfare services electronically, but will also help to improve retail payment services overall.”
Vasily Vysokov, chairman of the board of directors of Center-invest Bank, says that the Mir card is about patriotism, innovation, prompt action, and opportunities. “Russia began developing a national payment system later than other countries, but we are doing it faster and better! Plus, it really is much cheaper.”
Center-invest Bank is the leader in southern Russia for the development and introduction of bank card products and services. We were a winner in the nationwide competition “The 100 Best Goods of Russia” and we have been awarded a prestigious gold quality mark for excellence. For 2015, we were recognised as Russia’s best regional bank and one of its top three retail banks, and we ranked seventh among the country’s “bank market leaders” (Sravni.ru comparison site). Earlier this year we won the Credit Card of the Year category in the Banker of the Year awards run by the Banki.ru portal.