Center-invest Bank was among the first Russian banks to enable Mir cardholders to use the ATMs of the Armenian national payment system, ArCa. And ArCa cardholders can now use any of Center-invest Bank’s ATMs and terminals.

JSC National Payment Card System (NSPK) is the operator of the Russian payment system Mir. Experts from Center-invest Bank’s processing centre took part in the NSPK pilot project to integrate the Mir card with the Republic of Armenia’s national payment system, ArCa. The project provides for mutual acceptance of the national payment cards within the two countries’ infrastructures: ArCa cards in Russia and Mir cards in Armenia.

As highlighted by NSPK, the pilot project took just one year to complete, and it was an important step in developing direct acceptance of the Mir card abroad and providing new options for cardholders.

At present, Mir and ArCa cardholders can withdraw cash and carry out other transactions at the ATMs of the two payment systems that are branded with the Mir payment system logo.

As at 15 August 2017 Center-invest Bank had issued over 50,000 Mir cards to customers in southern Russia: 87% of the cards were issued to public sector organisations under payroll programmes, and the remaining 13% were issued to individuals. The bank plans to have issued 70,000 cards by the end of 2017.

In July 2017, Center-invest Bank started issuing co-badged Mir-Maestro cards.

Center-invest Bank experts are currently working on the NSPK pilot project to test Mir Accept 2.0. This unique technology ensures maximum security of online payments. Moreover, it is anticipated that by the end of the year, Mir cardholders will be able to use their smartphones instead of their cards.

Center-invest Bank was one of the first banks in Russia to sign up to the Mir national payment system and it has been involved in most of NSPK’s pilot projects: we were the first bank in Russia to issue personalised Mir cards (September 2016); we were one of the first pilot banks to be certified as an issuer and acquirer of contactless Mir cards (December 2016); and we were the first to add non-financial functions to the card (library, campus and transport functions).