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bne JSuelpyte2m01b8er 2018 Companies & Markets I 23
bne:FinTech
Robots to collect debts for Russia's VTB bank
IntelliNews Pro
Russia's second-largest bank, VTB Bank, will start using robots to collect overdue debt, according to the deputy head of VTB Anatoly Pechatnikov as cited
by Vedomosti daily on July 31.
VTB has currently announced a number of digitally-driven initiatives, including a possible alliance with Chinese AliBaba group, trying to catch up with market leader Sberbank that adopted an ambitious digital strategy and keeps a stable rollout of high-tech and AI products and services.
Pechatnikov argued that tests of the automated debt collection at early stages of overdue loans have showed better
bne:Tech
PPF completes
€2.8bn acquisition
of Telenor's
business in CEE
IntelliNews Pro
Czech investment group PPF Group has completed the acquisition of Telenor's subsidiaries in Bulgaria, Hun- gary, Montenegro and Serbia in a deal worth €2.8bn.
The deal was announced in March by Telenor. The company has some 10mn customers in the four markets – 3.4mn in Bulgaria, 3.3mn in Serbia and Montenegro, and 3.1mn in Hungary, but has lost around 1mn subscribers in the last three years. The divestment of the telecom assets fits with Telenor’s fundraising and cost-cutting strategy as the company is planning to refocus
performance and lower costs than that of human collectors, while not being susceptible to stress and emotional wreckage of the job.
"[The robot] is programmed for simple dialogues warning the client of the overdue [loan] and getting a pledge to get a payment instalment," he explained.
Previously the head of VTB Andrei Kostin pledged to open a first teller-less branch of the bank in Moscow. Sberbank already used robot assistants in some of the branches of the capital, and uses the AI voice assistance service in the corporate clients' call centre.
the business and pursue its digital transformation strategy.
"Following regulatory approvals the transaction has today been completed," Telenor said in a statement on July 31.
A day earlier, the European Commission gave a green light to the sale.
Telenor entered the Bulgarian market in 2013, acquiring mobile operator Globul and retailer Germanos Bulgaria from
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