Page 64 - RusRPTApr19

8.1.7 Bank news
Russian payment system Mir has launched a contactless payment service MirPay, the National System of Payment Cards (NSPK) announced on March 4. The application will be available for Android smartphone using clients of Russian Agricultural Bank, Centr-Invest, SMP bank, Rossiya Bank, the Moscow Credit Bank, Promsvyazbank, and the Russian National Commercial Bank. By the end of the year the contactless payment would be available in any POS-terminal ready to receive contactless payment, NSPK claims. The new service is likely to gain popularity given the growing number of card transactions and high mobile penetration in Russia. The Mir card payment and NSPK national payment system was created by the CBR in 2015 to cut reliance on Western payment systems under pressure from sanctions. Both Visa and MasterCard were forced to cut ties with a number of Russian banks in 2014 that were subject to US sanctions imposed over Russia's actions in Ukraine, starting with the annexation of Crimea. At the time, these companies had processed 90% of all payments in Russia. Although initially resisted by the banks, the Mir payment card has gathered momentum with 176 local lenders adopting the system as of January 2017, and 97% of ATMs and over 75% of payment terminals accepting the card.
Bank 131 has become the first new bank registered by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) in almost four years, after the regulator has waged a lengthy sector clean-up. Bank 131 will be an online based bank with no branches or ATMs. The bank is founded by the head of the IT holding Fix Dmitry Eremeev, who also founded the cashback service ePN.biz. Eremeev will remain the owner of the bank with charter capital of RUB340mn, while it will be helmed by ex-commercial manager of Yandex.Money online service Alexander Magomedov. The new online bank aims to provide payment services to online companies, such as retailers, social networks and cashback services. It also plans to provide services to retail clients through electronic wallets and its own IT platform with a range of financial products.
Russian Orient Express Bank (OEB’s or Vostochniy Bank’s) will postpone the additional share issue of RUB5bn previously planned for April, the bank's director and minority shareholder told Vedomosti daily said on March 21. OEB is central to the charges pressed against Michael Calvey, the US-citizen founder of Baring Vostok Capital Partners, Russia’s biggest and most successful private equity fund. Prosecutors have accused defendants of embezzling RUB2.5bn ($37.5mn) by persuading OEB shareholders to approve a share sale at an unrealistically low price. Reportedly, the decision to postpone the share issue was taken by Evison Holding, through which Baring Vostok and Russia Partners control 51.6% in OEB, according to Yusupov and other unnamed Vedomosti sources that claim that the issue is postponed by three months. Yusupov and Finvision Holdings Ltd., which is owned by Artem Avetisyan and has 32% stake in OEB are locked down in a shareholder conflict with Baring Vostok. On March 22 Finvision sued Evison and demanded that the Amur region court arrests 9.99% shares in OEB to block the share issue.
Russia's St Petersburg bank said it will pay 20% of IFRS net profit in dividend, making a record-high dividend of RUB1.8bn, continuing the efforts to improve its valuation. The announcement follows publication of 21% net profit increase year-on-year to RUB9.1bn ($141mn) in 2018. In the fourth quarter of 2018 alone, the bank made RUB2.6bn net profit, both the quarterly and yearly profit beating the consensus expectations of the analysts. The good results come in the context of a general recovery in the profitability of the
64 RUSSIA Country Report April 2019 www.intellinews.com