News

Neyva Bank to dispense virtual prepaid cards at ATMs

July 19, 2012

Yekaterinburg, Russia-based Neyva Bank announced it is launching a project that will enable the bank's ATMs to dispense virtual prepaid Visa cards. The card project was developed using the TranzAxis open application development platform from payments software and service provider Compass Plus.

Virtual cards allow the user to remove the risk of using a main payment card or bank account for online purchases. The virtual card contains all the requisite details to make the purchase, but allows the customer to safeguard against fraud by setting limits on the card for number of transactions and total spend allowed. After making an online purchase, the user can set the limits on the card to zero, so even if card details are compromised, the cardholder suffers no financial loss.

The virtual prepaid cards can be issued at any Neyva Bank ATM. To obtain the card the customer does not need to open an account at the bank or provide personal details, a contact phone number is enough. The customer simply loads cash onto the card at the Nevya Bank ATM (all of the bank's machines accept cash). The card can also be loaded from an already existing Visa card from any bank.

The customer can choose between three different currencies for the card and activate an SMS notification service to receive instant messages for every transaction. In addition the customer can enable the personal profile that allows him or her to change limits, block/unblock the card, check transaction history, receive bank statements and, based on templates, make payments for mobile services, Internet access and other utility services — all of which can be done over the Internet.

Using the TranzAxis platform from Compass Plus, the bank was able to implement the project in an extremely short timeframe, said the deputy chairman of the board at Nevya Bank. "We developed the service from scratch and overall — from idea to launch — it has taken our IT staff 15 man-days. In my career this is an unprecedented case of developing card products — card and processing systems of the previous generation cannot ensure such speed of implementation."

For more on this topic, visit the multifunction ATM research center.