Page 46 - GEORptOct22

Uzbek fintech company Payme reports big gain in second-quarter profit
Russia bank VTB to leave Georgia
One of Uzbekistan’s largest fintech companies, Payme, has declared a 2Q22 profit of $2.54mn, up 73% y/y, the company’s owner, Georgia's TBC Bank Group, has announced.
The number of active Payme users at the end of June reached 2mn people. During April-June, the figure increased by around 200,000 users, or 11%. Enterprises that regularly accept payments through the Payme service expanded by 53%.
The quarterly volume of transactions increased by 56% to reach $610mn. TBC Bank bought 51% of Payme for $5.5mn in April 2019. The founder of the service, Sarvar Ruzmatov, said that it would have cost more in another country—the price assessment was partly influenced by the relative risks of doing business in Uzbekistan.
The head of the supervisory board of TBC Bank Group's Uzbek digital bank TBC UZ, Niki Kurdiani, called the price of the deal "good".
The Russian bank VTB intends to leave Georgia, according to Andrey Kostin, chairman of the board of the bank, but will retain its presence in the banking markets of Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, China and India. "With the exception of one single case, we do not sell any subsidiary banks, anywhere. We have a principled position, we have remained everywhere", he said in an interview with Interfax. While in other countries, the bank is discussing interaction with national banks.
VTB has subsidiaries or associated banks in Belarus, Armenia, Kazakhstan, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, and Cyprus, and owns a 50% stake in the joint Russian-Vietnamese bank VRB and 50.1% in the Angolan Banco VTB Africa. The bank's branches also operate in China and India.
The bank announced the launch of money transfers in national currencies to neighbouring countries – Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan – in June. The maximum amount of a cross-border transfer by details to Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia and Azerbaijan complies with the requirements of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and is RUB150,000 (or the equivalent in another foreign currency) per month, the commission is 1% of the transfer amount. Transfers are available to both individuals and legal entities.
8.2 Central Bank policy rate
National Bank of Georgia keeps refinancing rate at 11%
46 GEORGIA Country Report October 2022 www.intellinews.com