Utilities possible to pay through OMV stations?

OMV Romania is to introduce a service that allows payment of utility bills through its filling stations network, after having concluded a partnership with HVB Bank Romania that lets people pay instalments on their bank loans at the fuel stations. HVB”s individual customers will be able to pay their instalments on loans in 45 of the 75 petrol stations held by the OMV as of mid April. The company was in talks with the electrical power and natural gas distributors, Vlad Seitan, retail manager of OMV Romania, told a news conference yesterday. “We intend to develop the stations as centres that provide services,” Seitan said. There are 10 OMV stations operational in Bucharest, and the company intends to expand this system to Bulgaria and Serbia in the future. OMV introduced a quick cash transfer service between various places in Romania in October 2004, a partnership with Westaco Express. According to Seitan, the volume of monthly transactions performed through this system amounts to approximately one million euros every month. The Austrian OMV Group is the principal shareholder of Petrom, the largest petroleum company in Romania. OMV intends to transfer its filling stations in Romania, Bulgaria and Serbia Montenegro to Petrom. ZF