For the first time ever, over a half of products and services in Russia were paid for digitally in 4Q19. To uncover this finding, Sberbank analysed cashless payments in Russia under the SberData project, its big data analytics and processing initiative. Citizens made 50.4% of total transactions using cashless instruments, which is 4.5% higher than in 4Q18.

According to SberData, the number of cashless payments will also exceed 50% in 2020, which is proved by an estimate by the Bank of Russia. According to its statistical data for the first three quarters of 2019, the metric reached 48.6%. If all transactions using cards are taken into account, i.e. P2P transfers are added to retail data, the proportion of cashless transactions will climb to 68.8%.

The bank notes that today 50% is not such a great achievement for many regions, as this level was exceeded in 4Q19 in 36 regions, with the Murmansk region reaching new heights of 60%. It is very likely that digital transactions will become a preferable payment method in the majority of Russian regions next year.

The penetration rate is expected to be higher in the largest cities. More than 60% of purchases are paid for digitally in Syktyvkar, Petrozavodsk, Apatity, Ukhta and Severodvinsk. Interestingly, Moscow (53.7%) and Saint Petersburg (54.6%) haven’t yet made it to the top 10, finishing 30th and 19th respectively in the ranking of Russian cashless cities.

Corporate credit history available

Sberbank also announced that, together with HES Fintech, they are to unlock the credit history records to their corporate customers via Sberbank Business Online. Clients can access data from United Credit Bureau and National Bureau of Credit Histories to check for possible negative details in a credit history, make timely adjustments to it and correct personal or credit information errors. A credit history report costs RUB960 for sole proprietors and RUB1,490 for companies.