Practical application of a new banking tool, "Golden Crown On-Line" magnetic card, has begun in Novosibirsk city in Russia. In mid-May the NovosibirskVneshTorgBank began emitting the first series of the cards. During a few days, the cards with cash deposits were issued to personnel of large businesses in the city. The first on-line transactions for obtaining cash for these cards were done on May 19, 1999.

The processing center "Golden Crown" is the principal user of the new hardware and software solution based on magnetic plastic cards. The new reliable and inexpensive tool has already been highly appreciated by a number of banks, involved into the "Golden Crown" payment system. The technology allows a bank to offer its customers the full spectrum of services available in the system. Using the existing infrastructure lets banks to save their money at the first stages of deployment of their own subsystems, while the extremely low cost of a card itself (less than US$ 1) makes it a very attractive option for new projects.

The "Golden Crown" system was established in June 1994. Currently it unites 144 banks in 58 regions of Russia, with more than 592,000 cards circulating and more than 6,000 point-of-sale terminals and 211 ATMs being in operation throughout Russia. The total amount of its transactions has reached 5,432 mln. roubles in 1998 (approx. US$ 230 mln.), with 68 per cent increase as compared to year 1997. The number of transactions in 1998 constituted 8.8 mln. (34 per cent greater than in 1997).

Source: InfoArt News Agency

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