Page 61 - RusRPTApr19

8.1.5 Banks specific issues
In 2019 the transfers between debit and credit cards of Russians jumped 1.4-fold year-on-year to RUB27.4 trillion ($420bn), for the first time on the record beating cash withdrawals that inched up by 3.4% to RUB26.6 trillion last year, RBC business portal reported citing the data of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR). The non-cash payments by cards also jumped 1.3-fold in 2018, but still remained behind the cash withdrawals at RUB21 trillion. Nevertheless, counted together, the volume of cashless transactions at RUB48 trillion was almost double the amount of withdrawn cash. Card transactions are dominated by payments for goods and services, or 76% of all operations or a total of 24.5bn transactions with an average receipt of RUB1,112. One-time cash withdrawal on average amounted to RUB8,400 in 2018, up by 7.8% y/y. The number of active cards issues by the banks (with at least one transaction on the account) increased by 22mn to over 180mn cards in 2018. For the transfers between individuals, Russia's largest bank state-controlled Sberbank was by far the largest, with about 40mn people making 1.4bn transfers worth RUB7.9bn in its Sberbank.Online service in 1H18 alone. In the meantime, a large market share could be taken by the System of Fast Payments (Sistema Bystrih Platezhey - SBP) launched by the CBR itself in February, which would allow users to make fast transfers using simple ID means, such as mobile phone number, regardless of the bank where the account is held.
"A number" of Russian banks have already connected to Chinese analogue of SWIFT - CIPS (China International Payments System) - the head of international relations department of the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) Vladimir Shapovalov told the press on March 27, without specifying. The connection to CIPS would simplify the transactions between two banking systems, he said. Previously, Russian official claims of China's solidarity in the de-dollarisation efforts of the trade relations contrasted with reports that Chinese banks are de-facto complying with the sanctions imposed by the US and the EU against Russia. The US dollar remains the main currency in trade deals with China, despite numerous efforts from Kremlin to bring the trade relations to national currencies. According to 2018 CBR data 88% of export deals to China and 74% of imports of Chinese goods are carried out in US
61 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com