Page 20 - bne_Tech_06_2018

Fintech
June 2018 www.intellinews.com I Page 20
Russia's Sberbank to discount online consumer loans
Russia's largest bank Sberbank will provide a temporary discount on consumer loans registered by its clients online, the state-controlled bank said on June 14. The discount will about to 50bp and will be valid until July 31 and will nudge the minimum consumer loans rate at Sberbank down from 11.9% to 11.4% annually.
The initiative is in line with Sberbank's digitally- driven strategy adopted in 2017 and recently reit- erated at the general shareholder meeting along with an increased dividend payment. The bank is steadily rolling out digital and online services and innovations.
Last time Sberbank revised the conditions of con- sumer loans was at the beginning of May, cutting the rates and tying the interest in reverse propor- tion to the amount of the loan demanded (the bigger the loan, the smaller the rate). Sberbank also stopped issuing loans secured only by private individuals.
Moving certain services online to cut the opera- tional costs, clear up the queues in the physical banking branches and improve the telling quality is the general trend in the Russian banking sector, market participants surveyed by Vedomosti daily on June 15 note.
China's WeChat launches its mobile payment service in Russia
WeChat, owned by China's internet giant Tencent, has launched its mobile payment service WeChat Pay in Russia.
WeChat, a Chinese messaging app, is used by 980mn people in China. The launch of its payment app in Russia is aimed at Chinese consumers, the only ones who currently use the service. Russian Amber, a chain of stores in St. Petersburg, is the first chain to accept WeChat Pay thanks to its popularity with Chinese tourists, BMB reports.
Chinese tourism to Russia has taken off in a big way as Chinese consumers find Russia cheap and visit Moscow in particular on shopping trips.
Irkutsk is another favourite destination, which serves the northwest territories of China.
In Moscow the legendary Central Universal Store (TsUM), a large mall for expensive brand-name goods and the little sister to the more famous GUM department store a few hundred meters away on Red Square, is currently working out how to incor- porate WeChat Pay. Both GUM and TsUM already accept Alipay, the payment service of Alibaba, and both are shopping Meccas for Chinese tourists.
The number of Chinese consumers visiting TsUM has reportedly grown 70% in the last year. This growth has been helped by moves to