By using SmartVista, the Bank will have total control of its card business, and will be able to pass Visa and MasterCard smartcard issue certifications.

North Credit Bank is one of the most important banks in the North-West region of Russia, and is focused on retail services. Previously outsourced legacy processing system limited the Bank's ability to deliver new products to its clients in a timely manner and constrained its range of services.

BPC will enable the Bank to significantly increase the efficiency and flexibility of its operations through the use of a modern solution. The Bank will deploy SmartIssuer and SmartPro to meet their requirements for a fully integrated card management and card production solution. SmartIssuer is a sophisticated way to manage the complete cardholder relationship by providing card management software that streamlines card program maintenance. SmartIssuer will also allow North Credit to easily design new card products, while providing functionality to manage its existing card programs. SmartPro will provide an end-to-end credit card production solution for magnetic and smart card personalization. A sophisticated credit card personalization engine will deliver all the necessary functionality for embossing, mag-stripe encoding, chip personalization, as well as PIN mailer printing and distribution.

As the Bank's ATM network is a crucial part of its delivery strategy, BPC will implement SmartATM - a sophisticated product that will allow the Bank to automate, service and monitor its ATM network. SmartATM will also monitor cash flows to pinpoint patterns and accurately forecast demand. As a result, North Credit will reduce operational costs by optimizing cash holdings across the network.

North Credit is also an active acquirer and will install SmartMerchant to manage its POS network. SmartMerchant provides an integrated merchant management system that streamlines merchant and terminal maintenance. Additionally, SmartMerchant performs a range of merchant management functions including terminal set up, financial clearing and settlement, billing, statement, invoice and report generation and delivery.

To compliment its card, ATM and POS management solutions North Credit has also licensed SmartGuard, BPC's award winning fraud management solution, to track, in real-time, 100% of transactions coming from traditional and emerging delivery channels and to stop fraud before it happens.
Drawing on this broad range of BPC solutions the Bank will be able to make the most of new opportunities, for example it has far-reaching plans to take part in infrastructure projects with the Government of the region - including transport payments, and value-added services for the major regional enterprises' employees. Today the Bank is one of only nine Russian banks authorized to participate in the federal Universal Electronic Card (UEC) project. BPC will empower the Bank with its comprehensive end-to-end solutions optimized for specific payments functions and business areas.

"North Credit wants to provide modern and convenient service to its customers. We made an important strategic decision for our card business to create a new end-to-end infrastructure based on SmartVista that will allow us to transform our card business and enhance our market competitiveness. Not only will SmartVista enable us to launch new card products quickly, and help us ensure that our ATM network is operating at peak efficiency but it will also help eliminate fraud," said Dmitry Sychev, Head of IT department "North Credit" Bank.

"North Credit Bank clearly illustrates the breadth and flexibility of the SmartVista suite to meet the needs of any bank in any market. Being one of the most important regional banks involved in state projects it delivers high-level client service and we are delighted to help make its payment business more efficient and profitable," added Vasily Grigoriev, CEO BPC Banking Technologies.