Money, money circulation and credit - стр. 30
One more type of cards issued in the frame of payment systems is electronic cards. Many payment systems have them. In VISA for example it is VISA Electron, in MasterCard – Maestro. As was mentioned before such cards are non-embossed and intended only for electronic application. They could be cashed in cash machines and used for making payments for the goods and services purchased in the points of sale equipped with special electronic terminals. There are electronic cards which are intended only for getting cash money in cash machines, for example in MasterCard system the card Cirrus.
Virtual money is a special type of electronic money and its appearance is linked to the Internet opportunities. Nowadays there are a vast number of different services rendered in the Internet and paid by cybercash.
Thus it is possible to make shopping in the cybershops, to visit a cyber casino, to take up the shares, to use the analytical information, to get the consulting services, etc. For the goods and services payments via Internet there are some cyber payments systems intended for quick and secure settlements between the numerous of users. Money in these systems are represented by digits, thus it is called digital money.
Digital money could be kept on a computer hard drive or on a memory of smart cards (microprocessing plastic cards). The emission of digital money is also performed by bank which serves the cyber payment system. The issued digital money are provided by the means kept on the client’s banking account. Special security measures and tariff policy make the usage of these cards cost effective and reliable.
Nowadays throughout the entire world the co-branded plastic cards are very popular. Recently they are actively implementing into the CIS countries. Co-branded credit and depositary cards are the cards issued by banks and some companies collaboratively. They allow not only making payments of the goods and services but either give an opportunity to receive discounts and bonuses form a company- partner of the bank.
Abroad the co-brands constitute the best part of all plastic cards. Thus in Europe every fifth card is co-branded and in USA – every second.
The most successful and numerous cards are the cards which are issued in cooperation with the gross trade networks and supermarkets, they consist about 60 % of all the co-brands in the world. On the second place are the projects with the airline companies (about 10 %), then the projects with the petrol station chains and cellular service providers follow (5 % of each).