PLUS-Forum “Cards, Payments and Mobile 2018": first summary

The 9th International PLUS-Forum “Cards, Payments and Mobile” took place at Sokolniki Exhibition and Convention Center on May 30-31.

With its audience growing year by year, the Forum confirmed its status of one of the most significant events in the payment industry once again. This time the event was attended by a record number of delegates – 1351. Among them are recognized experts of the Russian and foreign payment markets, bankers, regulators, vendors, major retailers, officials from relevant ministries and government agencies, law enforcement bodies, and more.

In the framework of the Forum conference programme, 52 speakers addressed their speeches and presentations to the delegates, while 56 Russian and foreign companies presented their products and solutions at the exhibition organized alongside the conference on the Forum venue. For the third consecutive year, the PLUS-Forum was supported by the National System of Payment Cards (NSPK). NSPK General Director Vladimir Komlev opened the Forum with a welcoming speech addressed to the delegates.  

Among the milestones of this year's event are the following:

Vladimir Komlev’s eloquent and relevant speech was focused on role and place of the pricing policy of payment systems in the development of the Russian market, the mechanisms for the formation of payment system fees, and the appropriateness of regulators’ involvement in these matters. This topic has recently raised keen interest from banks, merchants and trade associations. V. Komlev stressed that any step of the state with regard to the pricing policy of payment systems should be treated extremely cautiously, taking into account both positive and negative effects of specific country experience. Also, according to V. Komlev, the launch of the Faster Payments System can entail fundamental changes in the market, especially as regards fees and current business models.

A detailed analysis of the key indicators and development trends of the Russian payment market was presented by Maria Krasenkova, Head of Department for National Payment System Development and Regulation, Bank of Russia. Together with the speech by Vladimir Komlev, her presentation gave a complete picture of the development prospects for the Russian payment market in the nearest future. 

Eduard Segal, Head of Digital Identity Project Office at Rostelecom, informed that more than forty banks had joined the Unified Biometric System.

Russia will have to build a digital economy according to its own rules, since using somebody else’s ones leave no chance to win, believes Yuri Pripachkin, President of the Russian Association of Cryptocurrency and Blockchain (RACIB).

Maria Guseva, Senior Principal, Management Consulting Practice for Financial Services Sector, Accenture, informed about the global experience of the migration to the Real-time payments infrastructure and about challenges and opportunities for the domestic payment market players.

In Sevastopol, a unified city card has been launched. It is the only solution of its kind offering a payment option for those who travel by sea. The project was presented by Alexander Marchenko, CIO for the Sevastopol Unified City Card.

Olga Antonovich, Head of Electronic Payment Instruments at the National Bank of the Republic of Belarus, informed that the Bank forecasts a decrease in the number of ATMs and kiosks.

Rostelecom demonstrated operation of the Unified Biometric System allowing banks to deliver a range of services to their customers remotely. The Forum participants could test the new technology on site.

Ingenico Group presented a test model of the payment solution based on the PIN-on-Glass technology enabling card transactions with a PIN entered manually on the screen of a mobile device, mostly a smartphone or tablet. 

Russian Standard presented a universal m-POS system operating on the “All in One” principle. The solution allows payments to be accepted at the merchant location and includes all the necessary functionality for both cash and non-cash transactions.

ISBC Group presented AIRTAG Pro, a multifunction fob. The RFID-fob allows you to download bank, transport and discount cards via a mobile application using Bluetooth.

Igor Stukanov, Country Manager, Russia and CIS, Verifone, informed about imperfections of the PIN-on-Glass technology.

The full versions of presentations and detailed reviews of solutions, products and technologies presented at the exhibition will be available on the information portal PLUSworld.ru soon.

During the event, video and photo coverage was performed, and speakers’ presentations and interviews with the Forum participants were recorded. Soon, videos and photos will be available at the information portal www.plus-forum.com in Photo and Video sections. 

All delegates who completed PLUS-Forum questionnaires will get access to all presentations via a link sent to the e-mail address specified in the questionnaire.

Global Sponsor: Ingenico

General Sponsors: Nexgo, Futubank, ROSAN

Chief Sponsors: Verifone, Gemalto, Thales, DNA Distribution, Solanteq, Matica, Rostelecom, DEEP 2000, Evotor

Partners: QIWI, Compass Plus, TSYS, SafeTech, LANTER, OSTCARD, CASHOFF, CTC advanced, Cryptotech, SZZT, Shenzhen Kaisere Technology, Newcapec Electronics Co., DATAPHONE, SIM2M, SCANTECH, Best Quality Design, Z-Card, VisionLabs, JinGuan Tech (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd, PSIT, Contact Design, Feitian, Telepower, CASHOFF, Tactilion, Dongguan Ketian smart card technology Co., Yarus / Orangedata, Regula, Indemit, Smit, Orencard, Secvel, ISBC, RTLabs, Wiseasy, Russian Standard, eKassir, NovaCard, ATM ALLIANCE, Third Sense.

The PLUS-Forum Steering Committee expresses gratitude to all participants and invites you to continue cooperation at the 10th Jubilee International PLUS Forum “Cash Circulation + Self-service. Banking and Retail“ scheduled for November 14-15, 2018. Registration is open!

We are also waiting for you at the 10th International PLUS-Forum “Cards, Payments and Mobile” on May 29-30, 2019.  

On April 10-11, 2019, we will hold the 6th International PLUS-Forum “Online & Offline Retail”. Registration is open!

Follow the Forum news on PLUSworld.ru, join us in Facebook and Twitter. The official hashtag of the Forum: #ecomforum