Goznak has prepared ATMs with Russian software for new banknotes

Goznak presented software that will help ATMs of Russian banks recognize new banknotes issued by the Bank of Russia for circulation, without contacting foreign device manufacturers. For now it only works on devices from Korean manufacturers; negotiations are underway with Chinese ones. Experts believe that this may speed up the adaptation of ATMs of Russian banks to the new banknotes, but will not seriously affect the quality of counterfeit recognition.

On Tuesday, October 24, Goznak presented software that allows you to create images of new banknotes. This is required so that the ATM can recognize the denomination of the new banknote and check its authenticity. Work on the software solution took about a year; Goznak specialists developed that part of the ATM software that is responsible for accepting banknotes, issuing them, recognizing the denomination and checking their authenticity. “Now adding information about new or updated banknotes to domestic ATMs can be carried out entirely on the Russian side without the participation of foreign partners,” Goznak said. At the same time, they added that the software solution was developed for the most popular category of ATMs – with recirculation.

Currently, this solution can be used in ATMs with validators from the Korean company Hyosung, which are installed both on its own devices and on Russian ATMs of the SAGA Technologies company.

“The solution will make it possible to update the software of more than 60% of existing recirculating ATMs in the country, and primarily in the largest banks,” Goznak said. They noted that the solution can technically be adapted for ATMs of other brands. According to the Bank of Russia, as of mid-year, the number of ATMs in use was estimated at 149.8 thousand, with 121.9 thousand having the function of accepting cash.

At the same time, Goznak did not try to adapt the presented software solution to work with ATMs from unfriendly countries. “We believe that efforts for such adaptation are inappropriate, since the manufacturers of ATMs of these brands have decided to leave the domestic market, and their ATMs will be replaced by both Russian analogues and ATMs produced in friendly countries,” they explained.

According to technical director of SAGA Technologies Alexander Taldykin, the update to accept new banknotes with a face value of 5 thousand rubles. will be provided to banks before their large-scale introduction into circulation.

“The situation with the cessation of support and the inability to accept new banknotes at ATMs of Western vendors will not be repeated in the case of SAGA and Hyosung, since Goznak has everything necessary to create and modify currency templates,” he explained.

As stated by the head of the BFS companies (another manufacturer of domestic ATMs using the validator of the Chinese company GRG) Artem Zhilonov, Goznak’s solution can reach banks faster than similar solutions from foreign suppliers, since he is the first to receive new banknotes and can begin work on the template when they are not yet available to anyone. “We are working with the GRG company to transfer to Goznak all the necessary tools to adapt new software to their banknote recognition devices,” he said.

According to a Kommersant source in the banking market, scanning equipment and software for it are needed to create an image of a new bill.

“All banknotes are slightly different from each other, and as a result of scanning a large number of banknotes, a reference image is created, from which real banknotes differ by a certain percentage, which is recognized as the norm when determining the authenticity of a banknote,” explained Kommersant’s interlocutor.

Experts note that thanks to the new software, the time it takes to provide banks with images of new banknotes may be reduced, but not the quality of determining the authenticity of banknotes. “In general, since the main validation algorithm is common, there will be no significant changes in the quality of recognition,” says Viktor Dostov, head of the Association of Electronic Money and Money Transfer Market Participants. In turn, Roman Prokhorov, head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association, noted that reducing the technological chain of operations to introduce the use of new banknotes in ATMs will be an additional competitive advantage for Korean validators.

Maxim Builov