Sberbank, the former Soviet savings bank monopoly notorious for its slow and unfriendly service, opened an internationally linked cash machine Tuesday at Moscow's Sheremetyevo-2 airport in another move designed to improve its stale image.


"It is our little step toward the world community," said Gennady Soldatenkov, the Sberbank vice president, linking the event to Russia's new expanding role in the world economy.


Two other Russian banks, Stolichny and Credobank, inaugurated cash machines earlier this year.


All three banks issue rubles or dollars through the machines.


Sberbank launched the first of three new automatic teller machines, purchased for a total of $99,000 from the British International Computers Ltd. company -- an outlay it is unlikely to recuperate soon.


The bank also announced that it will start to issue its own debit cards linked to the Europay and Cirrus payment systems and will market cards issued by the two companies.


Each machine must produce a daily volume of $10,000 for the automated operation to break even in a year, according to Natalya Bogorodskaya, the deputy head of the currency department of Sberbank. The automatic cash dispensing machines accept EuroCard, MasterCard and Cirrus cards.


Today, she said, the teller machine only cashed $1,500, producing revenue of $25, an initial loss of $5. Sberbank pays the airport a daily rent of $30 for the space, Bogorodskaya said.


The new teller machine is connected to banks accepting Europay, which markets EuroCard and MasterCard, and Cirrus cards throughout the world through the International Swift network, she said.


The maximum one-time withdrawal is $790, in $10 and $20 bills, and a similar amount in rubles, bank officials said. Costs for the customer depend on charges applied by the credit card company.


The machine will operate 24 hours a day.


Sberbank plans to open two more machines in the center of Moscow by August, Bogorodskaya said.


She said the Cirrus debit card will cost $30 but only require a minimum bank deposit of $5.


To receive a credit card issued by Europay, a customer must present guarantees of solvency from three businesses and maintain a minimum balance of $1,500 in a Sberbank account.


She said in future Sberbank dispensers will be accept cards from the Visa network and STB system. The STB card is issued by Stolichny, one of the biggest Russia's banks.


Earlier this month, Sberbank, still 20 percent owned by the state, announced it had signed a $24 million agreement with Hewlett-Packard for 100,000 computers for a new accounting system.