Unistream

Unistream is one of the largest international money transfer systems in Russia. The remittance division at Unistream Bank was created in 2001 and was named Unistream. Unistream became an independent bank in 2006. As of November 2019, customers are served at 150,000 locations in 90 countries around the world. From 2016 to 2019. more than 10 million customers transferred money to their families with the help of Unistream.

History

2023: US sanctions

On July 20, 2023, the US Treasury Department imposed new sanctions on Russian citizens and companies. In particular, Unistream Bank fell under restrictions.

2022: Delays in transfers from Russia amid conflict in Ukraine

In early July 2022, customers of the Unistream money transfer system complain about the inability to receive transfers from Russia. Kommersant drew attention to negative reviews.

Customers faced problems when transferring money to Italy, Vietnam, Serbia, Georgia and other countries. Some of the users reported that the waiting period for refunds after the failed transfer exceeded two weeks.

Delays in foreign transfers can be directly or indirectly related to sanctions. Foreign partners ceased to cooperate with the system: Belarusian Paritetbank and Dabrabyt; the Uzbek "Ipak Uyli"; Moldovan Energbank, Moldindconbank, Maib; Kazakhstan's Freedom Finance Bank and Nurbank.

The owners of Unistream are looking for buyers for the company. They estimated their business at the beginning of the year at the level of $100 million. The company itself denies negotiations on the sale.

2019: Wallets in Yandex.Money can now be identified at Unistream points

On March 25, 2019, Yandex.Money reported that users of the electronic payment service can now be identified at Unistream points throughout Russia. After that, owners of electronic wallets will have access to all the possibilities of Yandex.Money - for example, money transfers to other people and payment for purchases on foreign online sites. Read more here.

2018: Central Bank restricts Unistream currency exchange operations for six months

In November 2018, the Bank of Russia limited cash currency exchange operations for six months for the Unistream payment system due to violations of anti-money laundering legislation. This was reported  by the newspaper Kommersant, citing a source close to the company. The information was confirmed by an employee of the supervisory unit of the regulator.

Such a measure was adopted by the regulator following an unscheduled audit conducted from June 21 to August 30.

"According to the results, the bank received an order to finalize the procedures for identifying the sources of origin of clients' funds in the implementation of large currency exchange operations, as well as a restriction on the implementation of currency exchange operations not related to money transfers until March 1, 2019," the publication quotes the head of Unistream Kirill Palchun.

A significant share of Unistream's transfers are the operations of labor migrants who receive salaries in rubles and send funds to their homeland in dollars. According to the previous scheme, currency was first exchanged, and then a transfer was made. The restrictions of the Central Bank do not allow to continue to work in the same way.

"We decided that two products need to be glued together so that one operation can translate with conversion at the level of the Unistream system," K. Palchun told the publication. The new scheme will accelerate and improve operational efficiency as well as reduce operational risks. Classical currency exchange operations limited by the Central Bank generated "less than 10%" of revenues, "he claims

2016: Online Money Transfers Launch

Since 2016, Unistream Bank has also been operating online money transfers.

2015

Unistream received the status of a nationally significant payment system

In February 2015, the Central Bank of Russia awarded the international payment system Unistream the status of nationally significant. This means that the system is recognized as meeting the special requirements of the regulator, the Unistream system told CNews. The corresponding entry is included in the register of payment systems operators posted on the Bank of Russia website.

According to the federal law "On the National Payment System," in order to obtain such status, the payment system must simultaneously meet several criteria: the presence of direct or indirect control by the Russian Federation, the "Bank of Russia," citizens of the Russian Federation (the procedure for determining the specified control, as well as compiling and submitting to the "Bank of Russia" information on the establishment of control is determined by the "Bank of Russia"); compliance of the used information technologies with the requirements established by the Bank of Russia in agreement with the government, including the use of software in the established share, the developers of which are Russian organizations; compliance with the requirements for license agreements, material carriers of payment cards, ensuring the protection of information.

"The status of a nationally significant payment system is once again confirmed by the proper level of work of Unistream," said Kirill Palchun, chairman of the board of Unistream Bank. - Obtaining this status will allow us to strengthen expansion in the domestic market of payment transactions, in particular - payments for housing and communal services. We intend to actively develop this area this year. "

To ensure high-quality work, the payment system uses its own developments as the main components of the IT infrastructure and advanced achievements in the field of information technology, Unistream said.

Unistream Bank began providing legal entities with trading acquiring and Internet acquiring services

Unistream Bank launched in March 2015 two products for legal entities - trading acquiring and Internet acquiring. Trade acquiring allows a trade and service company to accept bank cards as a means of payment for their goods and services. Unistream installs the necessary equipment for its customers for free and trains the organization's employees who will work with it.

Internet acquiring is a modern service that allows you to accept bank cards for payment directly on the organization's website. Using a special interface, the buyer can instruct his bank to pay for the service or goods from his card. This decision, first of all, may interest online stores. All Unistream Internet acquiring operations are protected by a flexible and reliable fraud monitoring system, which significantly minimizes the risks of fraud.

The bank's tariff policy for trade and Internet acquiring is flexible, and at the same time the funds are credited to the company's account as soon as possible. Organizations that connect Unistream trading or Internet acquiring have the opportunity to use the help of an operational support service.

2014: Unistream remittances up 22%

According to the system, in 2014 the volume of remittances through Unistream increased by 22% compared to the previous year and amounted to about i200 billion. The number of transactions carried out increased by 15% to 8.6 million.

2006: Registration of OJSC KB Unistream with the Central Bank of the Russian Federation

On May 31, 2006, the Central Bank of Russia registered OJSC KB UNISTRIM under No. 3467. On August 16, 2006, the Central Bank of Russia issued a banking license to UNISTRIM CB OJSC.

This began the new history of the UNIStream system with a kernel in OJSC KB UNISTRIM and the history of the bank itself. Despite the transformation period, the business continued to grow from month to month, from quarter to quarter.

In November, the process that the market had been waiting for for so long ended: OJSC KB UNISTRIM finalized a deal to sell a 26% stake in the British company Aurora Russia Ltd. This transaction was the first investment project in this segment, ensuring an inflow of $20 million into the sector and making a foreign company a co-investor in the business.

Today, UNIStream is a powerful network that controls 30% of the CIS market and has an extensive network of points in Russia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Tajikistan, Moldova and other countries of the commonwealth. At the same time, business has long gone beyond the territory of the post-Soviet space. The management of the system is stubbornly making progress on the development front of UNIStream as a global project: its own service networks in Cyprus and the UK have begun to function, the number of service points around the world has grown to 70,000, the number of partners is approaching 300.

UNISTRIM CB "UNISTRIM" OJSC's profile business, which runs worldwide under the UNIStream brand, is associated with international projects, one of which is IAMTN (International Association of Money Transfers Networks), the general sponsor and actual initiator of which is UNISTRIM CB/UNIStream OJSC today. In two years, the association has become a solid international forum, rallying the biggest players in their quest to create a civilized money transfer market and fight money laundering.

2005: Converting to a Separate Business

In 2005, taking into account the significant success demonstrated throughout its existence, the management of Uniastrum Bank decided to transform the system into a separate business. So in November 2005, it was decided to create OJSC KB UNISTRIM with a central office in Moscow. The transformation into an independent business was another important reason: given the pace of development and the rapid growth of the volume of the market itself, the management of UNIStream saw an important task to attract investments in this dynamic segment of the economy. Thus, the transformation of the system into a separate bank adequately diversified the business and gave investors the opportunity for a flexible and more focused option for maneuver and choice.

2001: Start of operations as a department of Uniastrum Bank

OJSC CB UNISTRIM is the core of the international money transfer system UNIStream, which began its operation as a department of Uniastrum Bank in 2001. Then the management decided to enter the remittance segment, offering the market a qualitatively new philosophy and approaches.