Page 96 - RusRPTFeb23

8.1.8 Bank news
Russians have been adopting “buy now, pay later” schemes with enthusiasm: while consumer lending last year barely recovered to 2021 levels, instalment showed a tenfold increase, Kommersant writes. Such high rates are primarily explained by the low base: the market is just emerging. Experts explain the popularity of the product by the simplicity of design. The Central Bank has already become interested in the fast-growing market.
When calculating, Kommersant took into account the turnover of services operating on the principle of "Buy now, pay later" (BNPL).
According to the results of last year the turnover of BNPL in Russia was several tens of billion of rubles in 2022 and talk about an increase by an order of magnitude compared to 2021.
For example, the volume of purchases made using the Shares BNPL service owned by Tinkoff has already exceeded RUB10bn since its launch in April 2021, the organisation told the publication. Over the past year, the monthly volume of purchases paid for in instalments through this service has grown more than ten times.
BNPL services make it possible to divide the purchase payment into equal parts, while not paying interest, as in a traditional loan. In Russia, in addition to Tinkoff, such services are offered by Sberbank (Pay in instalments service), Alfa-bank (Share), as well as marketplaces - Yandex (Split), CFT (PayStep), Ozon.
One of Russia’s largest private banks Alfa Bank and the country’s biggest lender, state-controlled Sber (Sberbank), have announced they are launching special payment stickers that would replace contactless smartphone payment services that are now unavailable since Visa and MasterCard pulled out of the country, RBC business portal reported. As followed by bne IntelliNews, Russian banks are adjusting to the limitations and sanctions imposed after Russia’s full-scale military invasion of Ukraine. The latest such adjustment – the magnetic payment stickers – would function as one-touch payments and is primarily aimed at iPhone users who are used to making contactless payments. The stickers are smaller than a traditional bank card and do not contain a number or CVC code. Sber reportedly plans to launch mass testing of the technology in early February and it will be free for the first 100,000 early adopters who decide to participate. Russia’s only purely online bank Tinkoff Bank (TCS Banking group) also announced the launch of payment sticker technology in mid-December and plans to start it in January 2023, at a cost of RUB700. RBC reminds that after Visa and Mastercard payment systems announced that they would stop operating in Russia due to sanctions, The National Payment Card System (NPCS) has become the only
96 RUSSIA Country Report February 2023 www.intellinews.com