Holders of MasterCard and Maestro are offered new way of receiving money transfers from Russia-via Odnoklassniki network

ArmInfo. VTB Bank (Armenia)  informs its cardholders of MasterCard and Maestro cards that  MasterCard international payment system and Odnoklassniki social  network offer new, simple, convenient and safe way of sending money  transfers from Russia to 16 countries of the world, including  Armenia. The bank's press-service has told ArmInfo that VTB24 and  "Multicarta" processing company launched this service of money  transfers abroad in Odnoklassniki in July of 2016. 

Holders of MasterCard payment system cards have opportunity to  receive fast money transfers from Russia directly to their MasterCard  and Maestro cards 24 hours a day. Due to new opportunities both  transfer sender and recipient will save their time and resources  sending and receiving cashless transfer in any place and at any time  without visiting bank branch. 

The only thing sender has to do is to choose the receipient of the  transfer from the friends list in Odnoklassniki network or enter  receipient's profile, choose the card from which money will be sent  and mention the amount. Sender of the transfer does not need to know  receipient's card number. The service is presented both in web  version of Odnoklassniki and mobile applications for iOS and Android.  Minimal amount of transaction is 500 RUR, maximum amount is 75  thousand RUR. Transfers are made in Russian RUR. In case money is  sent to a card with a foreign currency account it will be converted  in a rate fixed by the bank issuer of recipient's card.

In order to receive transfer recipient should enter his/her profile,  "Transfers" section, enter "Receive Transfer" and insert number of  his/her MasterCard, after which transfer will be credited to  recipient's account. These transfers are free for the recipient and  currently they are also free for senders, holders of MasterCard and  Maestro within the ongoing campaign. Besides, when transfer is  credited to MasterCard and Maestro cards recipient receives also 30  "OK"s -an internal currency, which can be used to buy services within  the social network.

According to ArmInfo's Analytical Review "Armenian Banks in Card  Business", VTB Bank (Armenia) retains leadership on the market of  plastic cards both by the number of cards and the amount of  transactions. By 1 April 2016, the number of active cards of the Bank  made up 497.  The Bank has the biggest number of Visa cards - over  418.2 thsd by 1 April 2016, and the biggest number of MasterCards  (over 78.3 thsd). Due to the serious (almost 5-fold) year-over-year  growth in active MasterCards amid moderate (8.7) rise in active Visa  cards, VTB Bank (Armenia) increased the total number of active cards  by 24. As a result, the amount of transactions with cards grew by  12.8 over year, mostly due to the 21.3 growth in ATM transactions.   As of 1 April 2016, VTB Bank (Armenia) had 157 ATMs, including 78 in  Yerevan and 79 in the provinces.  The Bank has considerably enlarged  its own network of POS-terminals - from 298 to 345. Before 2013 VTB  Bank (Armenia) issued and serviced only Visa cards. In September  2013, it became a full member of MasterCard Worldwide and started  issuing and servicing Cirrus/Maestro, MasterCard Standard and  MasterCard Gold cards. The Bank also services ArCa local cards. 

To recall, VTB Bank (Armenia) joined VTB Group in April 2004 and is  fully owned by VTB Group, the second biggest bank in Russia. VTB Bank  (Armenia) is one of the leaders of Armenia's banking sector. It has  67 branches all over the country (the largest branch network in  Armenia).