Touch Bank's Cards in Card Deploys a Solution Enabling Transactions With Cards of Third-Party Issuing Banks

Moscow, Russia, November 19, 2015 (Newswire.com) - Upon becoming a client of Touch Bank, a holder of credit or debit cards issued by different Russian banks gets an opportunity to make the best use of all these cards and enjoy the benefits of his or her favourite loyalty programmes. To enjoy all these benefits they need to link their cards issued by other banks to a Touch Bank card using their online user account with Touch Bank's online bank and set transaction management rules – specifying the cards to which purchases in specific categories are to be charged. As a result, a customer gets an opportunity to use a single card, the one issued by Touch Bank, to make any purchases from retailers, with a purchase amount charged to the specific card they have pre-set. Any reward points or discounts earned under the card-based loyalty programmes will be added to that card in the regular fashion.

Say, in addition to a Touch Bank card a customer has a bank card on which reward points can be collected at filling stations. The customer continues saving reward points on the cards of a third-party issuing bank and the fuel supplier, while using their Touch Bank card to pay for his or her purchases at a filling station. Another example: say, a customer has a card which offers high cash back rates on payments of utility, Internet or mobile bills, or on their everyday purchases in a supermarket. The customer also links this card to a Touch Bank card to use it for specific categories of payments and secure the most attractive terms for such transactions.

Up to five credit or debit cards issued by other banks can be linked to a Touch Bank card.

What are the benefits offered by Touch Bank's Cards in Card  to its holder?

• CONVENIENT. No need to carry around all the bank cards that you have to use the benefits of card-based reward or other loyalty programmes. You just need to have a single Touch Bank card;

• EFFICIENT. Best cards are used for purchases in the chosen category of goods or services, while you get reward points or discounts offered by third-party banks. Depending on his or her specific needs, a customer may re-prioritise expenses on the linked cars;

• SIMPLE. No need to transfer funds between cards when using the service. All funds stay in the accounts of the respective linked cards. If funds abruptly run out on the card to which a transaction is being re-routed, the transaction is automatically re-routed online to a back-up card specified by the customer and the purchase amount is charged to this card. Any of the linked cards, including Touch Bank's card, can serve as a back-up card.

Touch Bank's Cards in Card  relies on Tieto's technology solutions to not only make the routine of paying the bills a pleasant experience by providing a customer with a convenient and intuitive points management tool but also optimise the cardholder's card spend, while still getting the attractive deals offered by other banks.

The service is secure. Any transaction with a Touch Bank card requires confirmation by entering a PIN, which provides a high level of security for the funds on all the cards linked to it. If you have lost your Touch Bank card you just need to report it to Touch Bank's Call Centre, which will cancel only the Touch Bank card. Alternatively, a customer can cancel the card themselves using their online user account with Touch Bank's online bank or via a mobile app. You will still be able to make transactions with the cards issued by other banks and linked to the card you have cancelled, using them without restrictions on an individual basis.

"The efforts by experts based in Silicon Valley to develop a smart plastic card that would manage a customer's accounts with multiple banks culminated in several start-up launches a couple of years ago. These projects definitely represent a value to the banking market and they caught our attention.

The technology enabling payments with maximum benefits for a smart card holder was invented by those start-ups based on a small reader that clones data from cards of other issuing banks. This process and the further use of such device for payments drives a significant change in the customer experience of card usage. Therefore, we decided to move further and set ourselves a goal of keeping the all-familiar customer experience of using a payment card. This is how we came up with Touch Bank Cards in Card  solution.

Launching a service which is completely unique in the market and has never been offered before is always exciting. Touch Bank's Cards in Card  is a result of a thorough analysis of cardholders' needs and expectations and the product of successful collaboration with Tieto, a leading European provider of software for the banking industry," said Andrei Kozliar, Touch Bank’s CEO. "I am confident that the multifunctionality of Touch Bank's Cards in Card  service will definitely find favour with our customers."

Maris Ozolins, Director of Cards, Tieto, said: "Using the latest advances in modern card technologies such as contactless payments and e-wallets, Tieto joined forces with the Bank to develop an innovative solution that allows a single payment card issued by Touch Bank to be used as a multifunctional payment tool. A cardholder makes own decisions regarding management of the payment cards he or she holds. And the Bank's client can still enrol in any of the loyalty programmes run by merchants, or loyalty programmes offered by the issuing banks of the cards they hold."