SITRONICS, Rostelecom and St. Petersburg Bank started the issue of the first in Russia bank cards “E-Government” with the new microchip supporting the hardware for the qualified electronic signature certified by the Federal Security Service of Russia with the protection class ÊÑ2. The project partners are the international payment system MasterCard.

The new card issued by the Bank combines the functionalities of the bank card for payments and the tools of the qualified electronic signature according to the standards of Russia, thus, the card holder obtains the access to own personal account on the portal of public services www.gosuslugi.ru and can use the electronic signature receiving the public services in electronic form. To access the portal of public services from regular PC a USB device is provided along with the card for card reading.

On December 15, 2011 in the central office of the St.Petersburg Bank  (St. Petersburg, Malookhtinsky lane, 64) an office was opened for issue of the cards “E-Government”, which initially will be doing the limited issue of the card. This testing period and limited issue of the card are regulated with the existing rules of work of the international payment systems before the large-scale issue of the new cards. During this time the bank plans to finalize the internal procedures and sign all the contracts and agreements required for the large scale presentation of the new card product.

From February 1, 2012 the “E-Government” card can be processed in all branches of the St.Petersburg Bank.

According to the President of OJSC Rostelecom Alexander Provotorov, “the new card is another way of citizens’ access to the portal of public services. The citizen, who received the card can immediately use the portal utilizing the infomats or home PC using the card reader that is issued along with the card”.

As it was noticed by the Chairman of the Management Board of St. Petersburg Bank Alexander Savelyev, “in the nearest future our customers, who received the cards will be able to use them not only to receive the salary or to pay their purchases, but also to access the personal account of the portal of public services using the electronic signature implemented in the card. We are glad that we are the first Russian bank that implemented such a large-scale and socially important project in partnership with OJSC Rostelecom and MasterCard”.

The Head of MasterCard – Russia Ilya Ryabyi emphasized the role of Rostelecom in implementation of this innovation project: “Rostelecom” acted as initiator and engine of the project, and at the end the citizens of Russia received a principally new bank card MasterCard with the most up-to-date technologies. Now the bank card is not only the tool for settlements, but also a bearer of legal electronic signature. MasterCard is glad to successful cooperation with Rostelecom and St.Petersburg Bank, which allowed to implement such complicated project within a short period of time”.

“The participation in projects aimed to increase the quality of life in Russia and assuming the long-term cooperation with the state is one of our strategic priorities, - commented the Vice-President on marketing and business development of JSC SITRONICS Mr. Boris Volpe. – This project is an important step in revival of the Russian microelectronic industry, its implementation will give an additional impetus to development of the information society, and will provide a convenient and protected mechanism for obtaining of the public services in electronic form. Acting as a partner of Rostelecom in development and manufacturing of the cards”.

OJSC Rostelecom, St. Petersburg Bank, MasterCard and JSC SITRONICS started the work on the project in June this year after signing of the partnership agreement during XV Saint Petersburg Economy Forum.

OJSC Rostelecom and the city of St. Petersburg also signed and will fulfill by the end of 2011 the contract for transfer of 30 services into electronic form and their presentation on the portal www.gosuslugi.ru.

The portal of public services (www.gosuslugi.ru) — is a portal, where the citizens of Russia can obtain the Federal, regional and municipal services in electronic form, and also pay fees, taxes, fines and make other payments to public authorities, such as Federal Taxation Service of Russia, Federal Migration Service of Russia, Road Police of Russia.

With the Decree N 453-ð dated March 21, 2011 the Government of Russia assigned the Rostelecom company as the ultimate contractor for the activities related to the state program “Information society (2011-2020)” in regard of establishment of the infrastructure of “E-Government” and transfer of public authorities services into electronic form.

The unique infrastructure of Rostelecom – proected communication channels, data processing centers etc. – and the experience in implementation of the large-scale national projects allow to the Company to implement this project successfully, on the Federal, and on the regional levels.