UniCredit Bank Selects Gemalto for Mobile Payment in Russia

Gemaltohas been selected to supply its Optelio Contactless Stickers to UniCredit Bank in Russia. UniCredit Bank is a member of a leading European financial group in banking services with thousands of branches distributed in 20 countries and 50 markets, and the largest foreign bank in Russia.

Gemalto’s payment sticker can be simply affixed to the rear of the mobile phone to turn any handset without built-in contactless features into a secure contactless payment device. The Optelio Contactless Sticker is certified by international payment associations and is part of the comprehensive range of Gemalto products and services.

For the Russian market, the stickers can be issued in relation to any current account open with UniCredit Bank. There are approximately 20,000 NFC-enabled terminals in Moscow alone and, with the addition of the user’s PIN, the stickers will also support transactions worth more than 1,000 rubles (€20).

“We are extremely satisfied with how Gemalto managed the migration of our card portfolio to contactless EMV, so they are the natural choice of partner for the new payment stickers,” said Alexander Vishnyakov, head of the Operations Channels Department at ZAO UniCredit Bank. “Gemalto’s Optelio solution offers a cost-effective option to deploy contactless payment services to our existing customers immediately, and will be a springboard for mobile NFC adoption in the longer term.”

“In launching this new innovative project in Russia, UniCredit Bank is further strengthening the country’s contactless eco-system, which will set the ground for NFC deployment,” added Jean-Paul Ternisien, senior vice president of secure transactions at Gemalto. “Additionally, with Russia’s well-established contactless public transportation infrastructure, customers are already accustomed to completing transactions with a ‘wave’ so we believe that NFC technology will also gain user adoption in the payment domain.”