BPC Banking Technologies, the leading provider of Open System e-payment solutions for the global financial industry, announced that it had been selected by Unibank to provide a complete in-house EFT payment processing solution.
Unibank is one of the 5 leading banks in Armenia dealing with both local (Armenian card) and international cards. The Bank currently issues nearly 50,000 cards, of which some 37,000 are under the Visa brand. The expansion of the Bank's payments business is a key strategic objective for 2010.
A year ago the Bank decided to make the move from an outsourced solution which lacked the flexibility for both issuing and acquiring that Unibank needed to fulfill its ambitious plans for growth. The Bank undertook a rigorous review of a number of alternative solutions and chose BPC's SmartVista as the product most fitting its business and technological needs.
SmartVista solution will now be running card management, including EMV, local card products, merchant and ATM management as well as comprehensive fraud prevention for the Bank. SmartVista's broad range of capabilities effectively support and manage payments across all channels, including POS, branch, Internet, and mobile applications. From simple credit and debit cards to sophisticated loyalty programs and multi application smart cards, SmartVista supports all aspects of the payments business.
After implementation is completed, BPC will be supporting the Bank in the certification of its direct interface to Visa and MasterCard.
"The new in-house processing center will allow Unibank to dramatically grow its issuing and acquiring business whilst offering more attractive terms to our customers and improve the quality of services. With SmartVista, a modern fully functional processing solution at the core of our payments business we will be able to carry out joint projects with manufacturers and trade networks. We have already reached preliminary agreements with a number of well-known companies for launching a loyalty program; the first in country," said Retail Business Director, Unibank's Deputy CEO Mesrop Hakobyan.
"We are pleased that one of the largest and fast-growing banks of Armenia has chosen the SmartVista Suite - further strengthening BPC's position in the CIS market. With a fully-functional processing center Unibank will have an opportunity to dynamically develop its card and e-payment business, to provide its customers with a wider choice of retail financial services and retain its leading position in the Armenian card market," said Vasily Grigoriev, CEO, BPC Banking Technologies