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turnover of RUB372mn, with over 1,000 daily grocery delivery orders from hypermarkets Prisma, Metro, Karusel, Spar, and Lenta.
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 north west 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 incorporate WeChat Pay. Both GUM and TsUM already accept Alipay, the payment service of Alibaba, and both are shopping Mecca’s 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 accept payments from China's UnionPay, setup WeChat Pay as well as Alipay systems, hiring consultants, as well as offering competitive prices. Russian bank state-owned VTB Bank and vodka company Russian Standard are also looking into WeChat Pay. Russia is trying to build up a domestic competitors to WeChat Pay by partnering with Alibaba's Alipay, but little progress has yet been made. “The introduction of WeChat Pay is also proof of the Russian private sector's struggle with external partners in China. Alipay has thus far been a bust, though there may be a Russian app soon enough. Just wait for the absurd legal backflips that will be used to try and force Russians to use it,” BMB said in a note.
Fintech start-up Revolut that provides digital banking services will launch in Russia in 2018 on the platform of Qiwi electronic payment system and cash-up terminals, RBC business portal said on June 5 citing Qiwi. Revolut provides digital banking services that includes a pre-paid debit card, currency exchange, cryptocurrency exchange and peer-to-peer payments, but the crypto operations will not be launched in Russia. Qiwi will allow Revolut to access its infrastructure through open APIs (application programming interface), and Revolut will operate under Qiwi's Russian banking and financial licences. In Russia the launch will start with basic products such as mobile application and multi-currency Visa card. Revolut was founded in the UK in 2015 by former Russian investment bankers Nikolai Storonsky and Vlad Yatsenko and provided multi-currency credit cards that provide significant savings while travelling or working with several currencies. Initially the start-up targeted travelers, freelancers, expats, and frequent internet shoppers, the founders told RBC back in 2016. In April Revolut raised $250mn from investors that included DST Global of former Mail.ru owner and tech investor Yury Milner. Prior to that $86mn were raised and at the latest investment round the company was valued at $1.7bn.
9.2.8 Telecoms corporate news
RUSSIA Country Report July 2018 www.intellinews.com
Shareholders of Russian MobileTelesystems (MTS) at the annual meeting approved a buyback of mobile major's shares worth RUB30bn ($0.5bn ) over the next two years. The timing and the distribution of the buyback