Press Releases

BPC Banking Technologies, the leading provider of Open System e-payment solutions for the global financial industry, announces that it has completed the first certified Visa PayWave launch in Russia, representing the latest step in Alfa-Bank’s implementation of chip technology. Now, with the help of BPC’s SmartVista Alfa-Bank’s customers can enjoy the speed and convenience of contactless payments at the point of sale. Low value transactions can be completed in less than a second, without the need for a PIN or signature.

BPC’s SmartIssuer, part of the SmartVista suite, supports full end-to-end card management including rapid product development, application processing, cardholder servicing and, in conjunction with SmartPro, card personalization and production for all card types, including EMV. Implementation of the Visa PayWave project at Alfa-Bank took only three months to complete.

With Visa PayWave, low value transactions can be made in less than a second without the need for a. PIN or signature. All cardholders need to do, to pay for goods or services, is to wave the card at special adapted PayWave card readers at the point of sale. The payment transaction is processed as a normal Visa transaction. For cardholders, it’s many times faster than paying with cash as well as being more convenient and secure. The PayWave chip provides high levels of security to guard against fraudulent transactions with 128-bit technology that generates unique cryptograms for each transaction.

“Thanks to the experience of BPC's team this project was completed in a few short months and at the highest quality level,” commented Andrey Eramov, Head of Card processing center development department, Alfa-Bank.

“We are pleased to be part of another ground breaking project in the Russian market. Our product strategy ensures that SmartVista suite is always able to support the latest payment innovations, which in turn allows our customers to maintain their competitive advantage and speed to market.” added Vasily Grigoriev, CEO, BPC Banking Technologies.

About BPC Banking Technologies: BPC is the leading global provider of Open Systems e-payment solutions for the global financial industry. It provides SmartVista, a single integrated solution for transaction processing and card management. The company’s customer base includes the largest and most progressive retail banks across five continents. For more information, visit the company’s website at www.bpcbt.com

About Alfa-Bank: Founded in 1990, Alfa-Bank is a full-service bank operating in all sectors of the financial market, including retail and corporate lending, investment banking, trade finance and asset management. Alfa-Bank is Russia’s largest private bank in terms of total assets, total equity and customer accounts. According to its audited IFRS financial statements for the first half of 2010, Alfa-Bank Group, which comprises OJSC Alfa-Bank as well as subsidiary banks and financial companies, had total assets of $22.6 bln, a gross loan portfolio of $15.1 bln, and total equity of $2.9 bln. Net profit after tax attributable to the equity shareholders of Alfa-Bank Group was $295 mln. The bank’s corporate and retail client base has grown considerably over the last several years: as of September 1, 2010 Alfa-Bank Group had served over 39,000 corporate and 4.3 mln retail customers, while the branch network had grown to 331 offices across Russia and abroad, including a subsidiary bank in the Netherlands and financial subsidiaries in the United States and the UK. http://www.alfabank.ru/