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24 I Companies & Markets bne July 2019
bne:FX
Most Czechs still don't want to adopt the euro
bne IntelliNews
Three-quarters of Czechs are against the adoption of the euro, according to the recent research published by the Czech Public Opinion Research Centre (CVVM) on May 31.
According to the poll, only 20% of Czechs want to adopt the common European currency while 75% are against. Both figures have been stable over the past years.
As reported by the CVVM, public opinion on the euro has changed in 2010 when the negative perception of the euro significantly outnumbered the positive one. In between 2001 and 2009, views were balanced or in favour of the adoption.
40% of respondents think that it has positive impact on research, industrial businesses and overall level of economy
bne:Tech
and 25% sees benefits for the banking sector.
“The most positively influenced area by EU membership of the Czech Republic according to Czech public appears to be the supply of goods and services, the most negative impact of EU membership Czech citizens see in case of Czech farmers,” said the author Jan Cervenka.
Nearly half of the Czechs see impact on Czech farmers and agriculture as the most negative. At the same time, 17% responded that Czech membership in the EU has positive impact on the agriculture. Economic development, SMEs, industrial enterprises, banking sector and farmers showed slight improvement if compared to 2015 while education worsened.
Russia's Sberbank to acquire 25% in Muslim charity platform PayZakat
bne IntelliNews
Russia's largest bank, state-controlled Sberbank, will acquire 25% of PayZakat platform that collects charity for Muslims in need, the bank announced on June 11.
Zakat is a form of alms-giving treated in Islam as a religious obligation or tax, which, by Quranic ranking, is next after prayer in importance. Global zakat collections reach $500bn a year.
PayZakat platform allows its users to calculate the contribution amount, and channel it to the charity of their choice, with the help of chat bots integrated into the social networks, as well as to receive status updates on the contribution.
Sberbank sees global and universal potential for PayZakat, the start-up that was the first winner of the bank's corporate accelerator Sber#Up for its own employees.
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Previously in 2017 the bank considered establishing an Islamic Finance unit and proposing regulatory changes that would make running sharia-compliant deals in Russia possible. There are about 20mn Muslims among Russian population of 145mn.
Sberbank is at the forefront of Russian digital development, having adopted an ambitious digitally-driven strategy and preparing to launch its Sber digital ecosystem in short- to medium-term.
The bank was also the anchor organiser of a recent meeting with the President Vladimir Putin on AI development, which was paired with an establishment of $2bn AI investment fund by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).