Russian Standard Bank has taken the world's first shipment of MasterCard M/Chip 4 EMV payment cards.
Mastercard M/Chip 4 is the most recent specification for debit and credit applications for smart cards set by MasterCard.
The Gemplus-manufactured smart cards were delivered to the bank in association with local supplier IVK Systems, which provided personalisation, and TietoEnator, which provided the host system.
The new cards will handle point of sale debit or credit, as well as pre-authorised debit payments, which enable secure offline debit transactions.