ICL Plc says it has provided the smartcard platform to enable a Russian region to overcome its cash crisis. ICL’s SmartCity service, which supplies smartcards, terminals, retail readers and transaction processing software, enables workers at factories in Neftekamsk to load part of their salaries onto the cards’ electronic purse function and spend it in shops participating in the scheme. The area has been gripped by a shortfall in cash, which has affected retailers as well as the population.
Although the system started with only 4,000 cards in use, STC Trading Company, the retailer organizing the project, has ordered 6,000 more and says it expects that the total number will rise to 70,000. The cards have space for six e-purse applications and ICL says that over $65,000 has been loaded up on the smartcards.
