OREANDA-NEWS.  January 24, 2012. The Bank of Moscow has been the financial operator of the Moscow housing and utility payment system since 2002. Each month, the system services over 3.4 million personal accounts of individuals and more than 40 thousand accounts of legal entities. In 2011, payments for housing and utilities through the Unified Information and Payment Centre (EIRC) amounted to 101.5% in consideration of prepayments.

Over 2011, the number of management companies participating in settlements within the EIRC system went up by over 30%. Today, almost a thousand suppliers of housing, utility and associated services and resources, about 2.6 thousand management companies and dozens of banks and payment systems accepting payment from the population participated in the system.

Out of its own resources, the Bank set up a billing system for interaction with agents accepting payments from the population, resources suppliers and GU Engineering Services.

For its clients, the Bank of Moscow offers ways to economise when paying for housing and utility services. For instance, clients of the Bank of Moscow can themselves choose the amount of commission to pay: when payment is made for housing and utility services through a teller, the Bank’s charges a commission of 0.5%; through remote servicing channels — ATM or Web-banking — no commission. In 2011, the number of clients more than trebled that pay for housing and utility services via the Web-banking system of the Bank of Moscow. Overall, in 2011, more than 4 million payments for housing and utility services were made through the Bank of Moscow.

In addition, on the Bank’s website, a unique opportunity has been provided for finding out the housing and utility service payment balance — by entering the payer code and the payment period, information can be obtained about the sum of the current payment under the Unified Payment Document.

"The payment system implemented by the Bank of Moscow operates efficiently and provides an opportunity to monitor designated use of funds by management companies and resource suppliers", noted Alexander Yastrib, First Deputy of the President — Chairman of the Management Board of the Bank of Moscow.

The Bank of Moscow provides Moscow residents with a significant volume of additional services, as well as a broad infrastructure for serving the population, including through offices located on the territories of GU Engineering Services of Moscow districts and through post offices (474 post offices). In addition, the Bank of Moscow, together with OAO MTS, has introduced an "Easy Payment" system for making payments, including for housing and utility services, by mobile phone anywhere and at any time.