National Payment Card System's interbank bio-acquiring platform to permit access to business lounges, hotel check-ins

MOSCOW. Dec 16 (Interfax) - The cross bio-acquiring platform of the National Payment Card System (NPCS), operator of Mir cards and a subsidiary of the Central Bank of Russia, will permit access to business lounges and checking into hotels in addition to biometric payments and age verification, NPCS Deputy CEO Pavel Potanin said.

"We are considering a scenario where the cross bio-acquiring platform will become cross-functional. Accordingly, the platform will include services such as business lounge access, hotel check-in, and other high-volume services that are popular in our country," Potanin said at the NPCS Technology Conference.

"The question that might arise is that this is not really a payment service. Each of the services that I have mentioned has a deferred transaction, such as purchasing access to a business lounge or checking into a hotel and paying for the corresponding stay. Therefore, one way or another, they should all be equally accessible to all financial market participants," he added.

Potanin said that a draft incentive program was discussed with market participants as part of developing the NPCS biometric services. The program involves developing and rolling out biometric services. The program is currently being refined based on suggestions from potential participants.

The NPCS in October announced the proposal to implement an incentive program for banks to encourage transactions through the biometric service. The support measures include reimbursing a portion of the costs to upgrade the terminal devices of financial institutions.