Non-cash payments in Russia

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Cash circulation in Russia

• Cash circulation in Russia

2023

The share of non-cash payments in Russia's retail turnover reached a record 83.4%

The share of non-cash payments in Russia's retail turnover in 2023 reached a record 83.4%, which is 5.3 percentage points more than a year earlier. The chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Nabiullina cited such data in early March 2024 at a meeting of representatives of credit institutions with a regulator organized by the Association of Russian Banks.

According to Nabiullina, the share of non-cash transactions in retail in Russia is one of the highest in the world. At the same time, in October 2023, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Sergei Belov said that Russia would not completely switch to non-cash payments soon.

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Non-cash society in the near future does not threaten us. There is world experience, the experience of other countries, when colleagues stated that there would be no cash, but gradually the trend turned in the other direction, "he said during a press conference dedicated to the presentation of new banknotes.

At the end of 2023, Rostislav Yanykin, head of VTB's transactional retail business department, reported that the volume of non-cash payments in retail turnover in Russia amounted to 84%. According to him, record indicators were achieved due to retail POS turnover (in 2023 amounted to a record 52 trillion rubles) and the popularity of the national payment system "Mir" and payment using QR codes through the Fast Payment System (FPS).

In early March 2024, Elvira Nabiullina noted that every second resident of the Russian Federation uses transfers through the SBP, every third pays for purchases. According to statistics from the Central Bank, in 2023, Russians performed over 7 billion operations through the SBP for a total of 31 trillion rubles.

In 2023, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation cited data from its study, according to which 36% of Russians surveyed by the regulator keep savings in cash. 37% of Russians use a debit card to store savings against 22% a year earlier.^[1]

For the first time in one of the Russian regions, the share of non-cash transactions reached a record 90%

For the first time in one of the Russian regions, the share of non-cash transactions reached a record 90% (according to the results of September 2023). We are talking about the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. This was reported to Evotor on October 24, 2023.

According to Evotor estimates, the share of non-cash transactions in retail small businesses in September 2023 increased on an annualized basis from 66% to 71%. The share of trade and service enterprises accepting non-cash payment increased from 76% to 78%.

The share of non-cash transactions in Moscow increased from 78 to 79%, in St. Petersburg - from 74 to 79%. There is also a growing penetration of non-cash in regions where cash payment has traditionally dominated. For example, in Sevastopol - from 47 to 53%, in Crimea - from 41 to 47%, Chechnya - from 23 to 45%, Dagestan - from 32 to 41%.

The share of non-cash transactions is growing in most small business segments. The highest level of penetration remains in the beauty industry, retail, to trade catering: for example, in spas and barbershops - 86%, beauty salons - 84%, coffee shops - 83%, flower shops - 81%, Evotor analysts calculated.

According to them, the use of non-cash is also growing in those industries where they are usually more often paid in cash. So, over the year, the share of non-cash transactions in travel agencies increased from 48 to 53%, in enterprises providing ritual services - from 35 to 44%, in alcohol stores - from 36 to 37%. The study emphasizes that the average check with non-cash payment in most segments is always higher than cash - by 5-30%.

In August 2023, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Skorobogatova cited data according to which the share of non-cash payments in the retail turnover of Russia reached 82%. At the same time, the indicator will continue to grow, she predicted.

The use of cashless payments is growing in spite of the departure of foreign companies

By, the to data Evotor share of non-cash transactions in retail small business increased over the year from 62% to 69% in March 2023. More actively began to use payment in, card , and Khakassia Dagestan in Krasnodar Territory Kamchatka. Evotor announced this on April 14, 2023.

The total number of QR payments increased 4 times by March 2022.

The strong growth is due to the "low base" effect ― in March 2022 there was a temporary decrease in card use due to the departure of international payment systems.

Шаблон:Quote 'author = said Alexander Rastorguev, Director of Payment Services Development at Evotor.

In Moscow, the share of non-cash transactions in small businesses increased from 72 to 79%, in St. Petersburg ― from 70 to 76%. The highest share of non-cash payments in the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug ― 87% (82% ― in March 2022), the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug ― 82% (77%) and in Yakutia ― 80% (71%).

The strongest increase in the use of non-cash payments was observed in such regions as: Khakassia ― from 48 to 59%, Dagestan ― from 22 to 33%, Penza region ― from 49 to 59%, Ivanovo region ― from 47 to 56%, Pskov region ― from 57 to 66%, Kamchatka Territory ― from 62 to 71%, Krasnodar Territory ― from 51 to 60% and Tambov region ― from 54 to 62%.

Among different segments of small businesses, the highest share of non-cash payments in beauty salons ― 82% (in March 2022 ― 75%), coffee shops ― 81% (75%), flower shops ― 81% (75%).

At the same time, the penetration of non-cash in such small businesses as: hairdressing salons ― 64% (last year ― 47%), veterinary clinics ― 66% (52%), non-network sports centers ― 71% (61%), bakeries ― 59% (50%), tire machines ― 56% (46%), street food kiosks ― 75% (66%), tobacco kiosks ― 63% (56%).

Small businesses continue to actively master and use payment using a QR code. The total number of QR payments, according to Evotor, increased 4 times by March 2022.

The study was carried out on data from more than 950 thousand Evotor smart terminals in March 2023 and 2022. The share of checks with non-cash payment and QR of the total number of checks was calculated.

2022

The share of non-cash payments increased to 78%

In mid-February 2023, the chairman of the Central Bank Elvira Nabiullina named the share of non-cash payments in Russia and predicted its further growth.

As for the share of non-cash payments, it has grown with us, if my memory does not change me, now in retail trade it is a little more than 78%. And this share, in our opinion, can grow, "she said, adding that by the end of 2023 the figure could reach 80%.

The share of non-cash payments in Russia in 2022 increased to 78% from 74% a year earlier

The strategy of the Bank of Russia provides that at the end of 2023 the share of non-cash payments will be 78-80%. "I think somewhere along the upper border will be," the head of the Central Bank added. In the previous strategy, it was expected at 75%.

According to the Central Bank, by the end of 2022, the share of non-cash payments in trade in Russia amounted to 78% against 77.7% in the third quarter of the same year. For comparison, in 2021, the regulator reported 74%. Over the past five years, the share of non-cash payment has grown by almost 30%, Vedomosti writes on February 16, 2023.

Nikolai Korzhenevsky, director of the SberIndex laboratory, notes that the key driver of growth in the penetration of non-cash payments in Russia is online.

That is, the share of non-cash turnover is growing primarily due to the more active use of the Internet, and not just because of card payments. This is the main point. Yes, in the last quarters it is food and fast food that migrate online, and, according to our estimates, this process has not yet been completed, he notes.

Georgy Konnov, head of e-commerce development at the Raiff eisen Bank, believes that interest in non-cash payments will continue to grow both from consumers and from businesses. Earlier, the bank conducted a survey, according to which by the beginning of 2022, 10% of residents of large cities had already completely abandoned cash.^[2]

3 out of 4 Russians do not want to give up cash

The situation in the markets has led to an increase in the number of Russians who are not ready to completely abandon cash. The survey, the results of which Superjob presented on March 2, 2022, was attended by 1,600 representatives of the economically active population of the country.

Withdrew all savings from the account, now - only cash; I am ready to absolutely abandon cashless and electronic pseudo-money.

Only 15% are ready to completely switch to cashless payments:

I already practically do not use cash.

Most of those wishing to abandon coins and banknotes in favor of non-cash payments are among Russians under 34 and citizens with an income of 80 thousand rubles. (22% each).

According to SuperJob, the number of economically active Russians who are ready to give up cash was highest in July 2014 (21%), the lowest in July 2020, the first year of the pandemic (12%). In the summer of 2021, the number of supporters of refusing cash slightly increased (to 18%), at the beginning of March 2022, on the next wave of a portion of economic sanctions, decreased by 3 percentage points.

• Polling location: Russia, all counties
• Settlements: 394
• Time: February 28 - March 1, 2022
• Study population: economically active population of Russia over 18 years of age
• Sample size: 1,600 respondents

Question: "Would you like to give up cash altogether?"

2021

Russia has become the world leader in terms of growth in the number of bank card payments in 10 years

In October 2021, the consulting company The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) reported on Russia's leadership in the growth rate of the number of payments using bank cards.

According to analysts, over the past decade, the Russian Federation has become the leader in terms of growth in the number of card transactions per capita and has become one of the countries approaching "cashless." In 2010, Russia was one of the states with the lowest per capita card transaction rates, the researchers clarify. There were fewer than 10 bank card transactions per person. The country was 40 times behind the world leader in this indicator of Norway. In 2021, the backlog decreased to 1.5 times, per Russian accounts for almost 300 transactions with bank cards.

The Boston Consulting Group: Russia has become the world leader in terms of growth in the number of bank card payments in 10 years

The Russian miracle continues its victorious procession, "said Max Hauser, head of BCG expert practice on digital technologies in Russia and the CIS.

According to the researchers, which was announced in October 2021, the growth rate of non-cash payments in Russia in the next 10 years will reach a record figure. At the same time, the volume of non-cash payments will overtake the largest economies in the world, including the United States and Germany. In Sberbank, the share of non-cash payments in Russia in the first quarter of 2021 was estimated at 59.4%.

According to BCG, debit cards will show the fastest growth, experts say. Revenue from card sales is expected to grow by 9% in 2020-2030, direct debit by 6% and transfers by 4%.

The study notes that the payment industry as a whole has suffered from the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic not as much as expected. The sector managed to quickly respond to the challenges of the pandemic, including with the accelerated conversion of cash payments into non-cash payments. In 2020, market revenue decreased by only 2.5% at the annual level and reached $1.5 trillion.^[3]

Central Bank of the Russian Federation: Cash use when paying increased from 30 to 33%

According to the Central Bank of Russia, the use of cash when paying for 2021 began to grow again - 33% against 30% at the end of 2020.

The share of non-cash payments in supermarkets in Russia increased to 76%

The share of non-cash payments of Russians for everyday purchases reached 76%, an increase of 5% over the year. This was announced on March 25, 2021 by the Paperclip payment service in its study. The reasons are the consequences of antiquated restrictions, as well as the development of digital services and loyalty programs of Russian banks and payment systems.

According to the data received, 55% of Russians use plastic cards to pay for purchases in offline stores, 21% - contactless payments through Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Wallet (formerly Samsung Pay), another 24% of users prefer to pay in cash.

The most actively used non-cash payment were in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug - Yugra (84%), Khabarovsk Territory (83%), Chelyabinsk Region and St. Petersburg (79%), Tyumen Region and Moscow (78%), Perm Territory and Sverdlovsk Region (76%), the Republic of Bashkortostan and Irkutsk Region (75%), Altai Territory and Kaliningrad Region (74%), Krasnoyarsk Territory, Novosibirsk Region Region and the Republic of Tatarstan (73%). The Leningrad and Moscow regions lag behind the capital's indicators by 8 and 9 percentage points. and account for 70% and 69%, respectively.

Among the most "cash" regions were the Saratov region (56%), the Republic of Mari El (57%), the Stavropol Territory (61%) and the Krasnodar Territory (64%).

An additional survey of users showed the main reasons why Russians do not use contactless payments through Apple Pay, Google Pay or Samsung Pay. Among the most common reasons are the habit of paying for purchases in other ways (31%) and the lack of NFC technology in the phone (22%). 14% of respondents do not attach importance to payment methods, and another 13% do not use contactless payment for security reasons.

The share of non-cash and contactless payments is growing steadily in large cities, - notes Alexey Shumilin, founder and general director of the payment service SKRPKA. - The pandemic has strengthened and deepened the existing trend towards the rejection of cash and the transition to electronic methods of settlement. In addition, the development of digital services and loyalty programs, which, even before the coronavirus crisis, acted as drivers of the global financial market, had a serious impact on the process. Russia shows steadily growing indicators of the transition to non-cash payments largely due to the development of information technology in the financial sector. The main share of non-cash and contactless payments falls on the younger generation. The most active users are young people aged 25-35 years.

In preparing the study, they studied how to pay for FMCG goods in offline stores (supermarkets and private convenience stores) using user checks. applications Three thousand PAPERCLIP users answered additional questions to determine the share of contactless payments using, smartphone bracelet or hours in the total number of settlements. The audience of the service is economically active Russians aged 23-49 years.

Almost every third Russian completely refused cash

On January 21, 2021, it became known that almost a third (35%) of Russians completely abandoned cash (29%), domestic entrepreneurs want to keep up with changed consumer habits and connect the reception of non-cash payments, in 2022 they will be available in 79% of SMEs - these are the conclusions of Visa research.

36% of Russians said they refused to buy in stores where you cannot pay with a card. At the same time, in January 2022, more than half (56%) of all purchases of respondents were paid by non-cash payments. This is largely due to the habit of more often paying cashless for goods and services, which appeared in 39% of respondents during the pandemic.

Convenience of making a purchase is one of the main criteria for choosing a retail outlet for 73% of respondents. Most Russian consumers (75%) expect to see contactless payment terminals in stores. This figure is higher than in other investigated markets (68%).

Respondents named the main advantages of electronic payments as opportunities to buy goods on the Internet (66%) and it is easier to take into account their expenses (39%).

Russian business also appreciated the possibilities of e-commerce. Three out of five (58%) of the surveyed owners of medium and small enterprises said that the transition to new payment methods has become the main driver for the growth of their business. A quarter (23%) expect that the possibility of non-cash payment will attract new customers to them in 2022.

Almost a third (30%) of SME owners have already completely switched to cashless payments. According to this indicator, Russia ranks second among the markets studied.

Russian small and medium-sized businesses are leading among other markets in the number of accepting contactless payment methods (54% versus 39% in the world).

The majority (85%) of Russian owners of SMEs are optimistic about the future. More than half of small and medium-sized business owners (57%) expect to compete in 2022 for customers with larger players. At the same time, three quarters (76%) of entrepreneurs speak of an increase in competition from new companies that initially focused on working in e-commerce.

Small and medium-sized businesses see opportunities for survival in a pandemic by increasing sales on the Internet. This was told by 77% of entrepreneurs already working online. They noted that over the past three months, more than a third of their income (37%) has come from online sales.

In addition to the development of e-commerce, more and more entrepreneurs expect to find sources for further growth in international trade. Every sixth (15%) hopes to expand the client base in this way. So far, only 12% of surveyed SME owners have established business contacts abroad. But another third (34%) plan to join international trade in the future.

Consumers are also actively buying goods from foreign online stores. The majority (67%) of respondents noted that it is convenient for them to shop on foreign sites. At the same time, consumers when shopping in foreign online stores are worried about the unreliability of protecting card data from fraudsters (57%), guarantees of delivery of goods (53%) and the lack of Russian-language versions of store sites (50%).

{{quote 'The Russian payment market continues to develop actively and remains one of the most dynamic in the world. This is confirmed by the figures of our latest study. Of the eight markets studied by Visa, Russia ranks high in terms of the number of consumers who have completely switched to non-cash payments. Most of the study participants (83%) noted that they are ready to completely abandon cash in the next decade. Business follows consumer expectations: according to the number of SMEs that have completely switched to cashless payments, Russia is also one of the leaders, and the distribution of contactless payments is the absolute leader in all markets where the study was conducted, "said Mikhail Berner, CEO Visa in Russia. }}

The Visa Back to Business survey, conducted by Wakefield Research from December 8 to 23, 2021, was attended by 2,250 small business owners with a staff of up to 100 people from the USA, Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, Singapore and the UAE. Wakefield Research also conducted a separate survey of consumers from different countries. It was attended by 1,000 respondents over the age of 18 from the United States and 500 respondents each from 18 years old from Brazil, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Ireland, Russia, Singapore and the UAE.

2020

The share of non-cash payments in Russia has been growing for 7 years in a row - from 25% to 70%

The share of non-cash payments in Russia has been growing for at least seven years in a row. This is evidenced by the data of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, published in June 2021.

According to the regulator's report, in 2014, about 26% of Russians paid for goods and services mainly by non-cash methods, but in 2020 there were already 70% of them. Accordingly, the share of those who prefer cash during this time decreased from 74% to 30%.

Payment with cards came to a leading position in almost all types of services. So, according to data for 2020, citizens pay with cards 82% of mobile services, 72% of hotel bills, 70% of bills in cafes, bars, restaurants, 68% of housing and communal services, 67% - car services and gas stations. Cash is used more often than cards when paying for travel on public transport - here their share is 59%.

The most popular tool for cashless payment of purchases is a debit card, which is used by about 74% of Russians when refusing cash. 45% of users of non-cash payment instruments work with a mobile or online bank, 33% - with Internet payments, 27% - with credit cards, 18% - with electronic wallets.

In 2020, about 71% of Russians who use non-cash payment means practice payment using contactless bank cards, and 33% use a smartphone for this. 90% of the population has bank cards, and 86% receive wages, pensions or other income on the card account.

As for the reasons for choosing a cash payment method, most often there were answers that cash payment is more familiar (25%) or the respondents do not have the opportunity to be calculated by non-cash method (21%); some respondents believe that cash payment helps to control expenses (19%); some are confident that sellers are more willing to accept cash at retail outlets (16%), cash settlements are safer (12%) and faster (11%); someone receives income in cash (10%), considers payment in cash easier or is afraid of technical failures (9% each), and there are those who just like counting banknotes, holding them in their hands (7%).^[4]

The share of non-cash payments in Russia amounted to 70%

The share of non-cash payments in Russia in 2020 amounted to about 70%, an increase of 6 percentage points compared to 2019. This was announced in mid-February 2021 during a press conference by the head of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation Nabiullina.

This is more than we expected at the beginning of the year. Of course, in a pandemic, there was an additional incentive to use non-cash payments. Plus, our regulatory measures that we talked about also made cashless payments more attractive, "she said.

According to Nabiullina, the share of non-cash payments is likely to continue to grow, but not as quickly as before, "because the degree of penetration of non-cash payments in our country is quite high, and each percentage point will be given a little more difficult."

The share of non-cash payments in the Russian Federation in 2020 amounted to 70%

The Central Bank of the Russian Federation previously noted that the share of non-cash payments in the calculations increased, including due to the development of the Central Bank's services and the tariff policy on acquiring commissions. According to the regulator, the contribution of the COVID-19 coronavirus pandemic to the share of non-cash payments as a whole amounted to about 3%.

According to the Bank of Russia, in November, for the first time since the beginning of 2020, the volume of cash rubles in circulation fell, and the annual growth rate slowed down, "which may reflect the beginning of a return to the economic behavior that prevailed before the pandemic."

According to forecasts of the Bank of Russia, the share of non-cash transactions in retail retail will continue to increase, including due to the development and promotion of the Fast Payment System (FPS).^[5]

72% of Internet users prefer cashless payment

Share of respondents preferring cashless payment over cash payment in 2020

The share of non-cash trade turnover in Russia reached 54.1%

At the end of 2020, Russia reached a historic maximum in terms of the share of non-cash trade turnover. It became known on February 3, 2021 from a joint study by the SberIndex laboratory and the IT company Platform OFD. Experts say that the previously observed trend towards a slowdown in the penetration of non-cash payments has been reversed due to changes in consumer preferences during the pandemic.

According to the laboratory "SberIndex" and the IT company "Platform OFD," in the IV quarter of 2020, the share of non-cash trade turnover in Russia amounted to 55.9%, and for the entire 2020 reached 54.1%. This is 4.9 pp higher than the level of 2019 (49.2%) and the next historical maximum. More than half of spending (53.1% in the IV quarter of 2020) is now carried out on a card even in such a traditionally "cash" category as "shops at home."

The process of avoiding cash as a whole continues, even despite a significant increase in the volume of paper money in circulation (+ 2.8 trillion rubles, up to 13.4 trillion rubles). Nevertheless, in the category of "construction and household goods" the share of non-cash volume decreased - probably due to an increase in cash in the hands of the population.

In 18 regions, the share of non-cash trade turnover in the IV quarter of 2020 exceeded 60%.

For the first time, a region appeared where the share of non-cash trade turnover reached 70% in the IV quarter. It was the Nenets Autonomous Okrug. In the largest cities, the share of purchases by non-cash has traditionally exceeded the figure for the country and amounted to 56.7%. The leaders are the cities of the northern part of Russia: Petrozavodsk (65.9%), Severodvinsk (65.3%) and Syktyvkar (65.3%). If in the III quarter of 2020 among the largest cities only in fourteen the indicator exceeded 60%, then according to the results of the IV sq. such cities have already become forty.

More than half of the spending here is now made cashless, although traditionally consumers have often been paid here with paper money. At the end of 2019, the share of cash transactions in this segment was 56%, and a breakthrough of 8.8% can be considered outstanding. A similar dynamics, however, is observed in all types of retail retail - super and hypermarkets, - said the press service of the OFD Platform.

Nevertheless, according to the representative of the press service of the OFD Platform, a large amount of cash in the hands of citizens also makes its own adjustments. Thus, a decrease in the level of non-cash payments was recorded in the sector of goods for construction, repair and home (a drop of 1.5% compared to Q3 2020 and immediately by 3.4% relative to Q4 2019) It is known that throughout 2020, Russians actively improved their living conditions or invested in real estate, which naturally led to an increase in repair costs.

In 2021, in the main categories of trade, the share of non-cash turnover will rather continue to grow. This is facilitated by social distancing measures, the needs of citizens in the convenience of payment by contactless method, the development of loyalty programs and shares of retail outlets in relation to card payments. For the first time in the second half of 2020, the category "restaurants" overtook the rest in terms of the share of non-cash and retained its leadership in the IV quarter. This is due to the growing sphere of online orders, where the share of non-cash is traditionally high, - Beznal predicts in the analytics service of the OFD Platform[6].

The leading regions of Russia on non-cash payments in trade have been identified

The most "non-cash" regions in Russia in the first quarter of 2020 - the leaders in terms of the share of non-cash trade turnover in the country were the Murmansk region, the Komi Republic and the Republic of Karelia. The most developed cities for non-cash trade payments were Syktyvkar, Petrozavodsk and Appatity. This follows from the rating of "non-cash" cities and regions of Sberbank, published on its website on April 16, 2020.^[7]

Sberbank's SberData laboratory, together with the fiscal data operator OFD Platform, conducts a quarterly series of studies on the development of non-cash payments in Russia, based on the data of these two organizations, as well as the Bank of Russia.

According to the results of the first quarter of 2020, the authors of the study identified five regions where the share of non-cash payments exceeded 60%, while in 2019 such an indicator was observed only in one region.

Thus, although the card payment market is approaching its saturation point, active development is observed even in regions with high penetration, Sberbank specialists draw attention.

The leader in terms of growth year by year was a region with a relatively low share of penetration of "non-cash" - the Republic of Khakassia, where the change was immediately 8.1 percentage points year by year, which is 2.2 times higher than in the country. Such a jump allowed the republic to overcome the threshold of 50%: 50.2% of purchases were paid on the map in the region. In Moscow and St. Petersburg, moderate growth rates were observed - 2.9 and 3.3 percentage points, respectively.

On average, in the largest cities, the share of non-cash payments is comparable to regional indicators, which, in the opinion of experts, reflects their uniform penetration. Moscow St. Petersburg Both statistics are expectedly more modest - 56.9% and 57.8%, respectively, than the closing ten leaders of Tobolsk (59.7%).

Note that the growth rate of the share of "non-cash" in the largest cities remains higher than the growth rate in Russia as a whole and at the end of the first quarter of 2020 amounted to 3.4 percentage points year-on-year, the compilers of the rating say.

Together with the declining index of the level of differences between the regions of Russia, the excess of the growth rate of the share of non-cash trade payments in the largest cities over the same rate in Russia as a whole, according to experts, shows the infrastructure for card payments is developing evenly throughout the country.

The total share of goods and services paid for by card in Russia compared to 2019, in the first quarter of 2020 continued to grow and amounted to 53.1%, which corresponds to a change of 3.6 percentage points year-on-year. For the first time, the threshold of 50% was overcome in the IV quarter of 2019 and, most likely, the indicators in 2020 will no longer fall below this value, Sberbank experts say.

The share of non-cash payments in the first quarter of 2020 compared to 2019 continued to grow in all major categories of spending.

As a result, we see that in almost all segments the share of non-cash turnover is already steadily above 60%. Even in the chronically "cash" category of "Shops at Home" there is a sharp breakthrough, which we associate with the introduction of quarantine. The volume of non-cash payments here amounted to 46%, which is 8 percentage points higher than in 2019, experts say.

In their opinion, the coronavirus epidemic can lead to a noticeable increase in the share of non-cash payments: citizens prefer payment with cards, especially contactless ones, for fear of infection. In addition, many outlets in principle refused to accept cash, especially with Internet orders.

However, according to Sberbank specialists, the data of the first quarter of 2020 so far only partially reflect this trend. In February, the share of non-cash payments turned out to be 0.5 percentage points higher than expected, and in March - already by 0.8 percentage points.

Operational estimates of changes for March 30-April 5, 2020, according to experts, confirm their conclusions for the first quarter. In the first week of April 2020, the share of "non-cash" in turnover, according to the OFD Platform, increased by 8 percentage points compared to the same period last year. Convenience stores, as in the first quarter, are the source of the most noticeable changes: already 52% of purchases in them were made on a card, which corresponds to an increase of 14 percentage points compared to the same period in 2019.

The factor of the coronavirus and the general economic consequences of the pandemic, according to the compilers of the rating, also significantly affected the average check.

According to the OFD Platform, in the first quarter of 2020 there was an increase in the Electronics and Clothing categories, which may be associated with a depreciation of the ruble. On the contrary, in the segment "Hotels and Hotels" - a fall of 11% year-on-year, which is obviously due to a sharp drop in demand. A similar picture in catering. The bulk of these changes occur in March 2020, but turned out to be so significant that it affected the result of the entire quarter, experts say.

Key Trends in Bank Payment Protection

Financial institutions are the most secure economic sphere in terms of information security. The reasons are obvious - the risks of economic losses in the case of cyber incidents are direct and observed. At the same time, financial institutions have sufficient budgets and motivation for the qualitative development of IT and information security systems. Nevertheless, information security incidents related to illegitimate transactions are currently common and do not lose their relevance. The author of the article "The main trends in the field of bank payment protection" considers which processes are now at risk, and which are already quite thought out, and their risks are currently minimized. Read more here.

Russian retailers will stop accepting cash due to coronavirus

At the end of April 2020, several Russian retailers and delivery operators entered into an agreement under which they will refuse to accept cash and bank cards, and will also switch only to contactless courier delivery of goods. These measures are being taken to combat the coronavirus COVID-19, due to which many stores are closed in the Russian Federation.

The agreement was joined by,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, and. WildberriesCoherent Avito BoxberrySnezhnaya Koroleva Lamoda OzonCitilink DPD IECM of Video El Dorado AliExpress "" SportmasterLeroy Merlin supported the initiative, but refused to close the trading floor.

Several Russian retailers and delivery operators have entered into an agreement under which they will refuse to accept cash and bank cards, and will also switch only to contactless courier delivery of goods

The agreement also establishes the following rules:

• no more than one customer is allowed to receive and issue orders and stores at a time;
• fashion players will have to close fitting rooms;
• all personnel will be obliged to use masks and protective gloves;
• sanitizers (antibacterial fluids for hand treatment) will be installed at all points.

We invite you to join us and put all your stores in order point mode. You all have online storefronts - let your customers order and pay for products there and come to your stores only to pick up their products, "said Tatyana Bakalchuk, founder of Russia's largest online store Wildberries.

Participating companies also appealed to grocery stores to switch to online trading.

More than half of Russians, due to the coronavirus, prefer not to touch cash and pay for purchases by non-cash methods, according to a study "" Rambler conducted in March 2020. According to a population survey, 42% of Russians prefer contactless payment methods and bank cards.^[8]

The State Duma approved amendments obliging small businesses to accept payment by card

On February 18, 2020, the State Duma adopted legislative amendments that will oblige small businesses to accept bank cards for payment or conduct transactions through the Fast Payment System (FPS) using a QR code.

According to the document, the threshold of annual revenue will gradually decrease, at which the trading enterprise will have to accept non-cash payments. By September 1, 2020, the revenue threshold will decrease from 40 million rubles a year to 30 million rubles, and by January 1, 2021 - to 20 million rubles a year.

Microbusiness will be obliged to accept payment by cards and QR code

According to Kommersant, the commissions in the fast payment system for entrepreneurs are several times lower than in classical acquiring. According to the head of the acquiring department of VTBAlexey Kirichek, the SBP acts as a significant alternative to traditional payment methods.

On average, a business pays a bank a commission of 2% for the ability to accept cards. When paying through the SBP, the maximum commission for trade and service enterprises is 0.4%. In addition, in order to start accepting payment through SBP, unlike bank cards, additional equipment is not needed, the publication says.

As the President of AKITRTEM Sokolov notes, in terms of the cost of use, the fast payment system is commensurate with the cost of servicing cash revenue.

Participants in the card market interviewed by the publication believe that the requirement to accept non-cash payments will not negatively affect the profitability of the "white" micro-business.

Commissions for acquiring are feasible for business, and SBP commissions are even more so, Alexander Dynin, director of the acquiring department of Otkritie Bank, is sure. 

Dmitry Vishnyakov, an independent expert on the payment card market , called the new amendments to the law an instrument that "will help promote the interests of the state payment system using a non-market method - be it Mir or SBP."^[9]

Non-cash expenses of Russians for the first time turned out to be higher than cash

Non-cash expenses of Russians exceeded cash for the first time. This happened in the fourth quarter of 2019, Sberbank reported on January 31, 2020, based on information collected by the internal SberData project (the bank's initiative to analyze and process big data).

According to bank analysts, in October-December 2019, the share of non-cash expenses amounted to 50.4%. In 36 Russian regions, card purchases accounted for more than half of total expenses, and in the largest cities, including Moscow and St. Petersburg, the share of non-cash trade turnover has already crossed the 50% threshold for the whole of 2019.

Non-cash expenses of Russians exceeded cash for the first time

The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug became the leader in terms of the increase in the share of non-cash expenses with an indicator of 7.7 pp compared to 2018. Chukotka is among the top 10 most "cashless" regions, the study says. The top 5 in terms of the share of non-cash trade turnover includes the Republic of Karelia, the Murmansk region, the Komi Republic, as well as the Arkhangelsk and Tyumen regions. St. Petersburg and the Leningrad Region are in the top 10 of the rating, Moscow and the Moscow Region are in the top 20.

In the largest cities, penetration is expected to be more significant than in the regions. In Syktyvkar, Petrozavodsk, Apatity, Ukhta and Severodvinsk, more than 60% of purchases are paid without cash. At the end of 2019, residents of these settlements on average prefer map calculations: indicators amounted to 50.2% and 51.3% for the entire year and for the IV quarter, respectively. At the same time, Moscow (53.7%) and St. Petersburg (54.6%) do not yet reach the list of leaders and occupy 30th and 19th places, respectively, in the ranking of the most "non-cash" cities in the country.

According to analysts' forecasts, in 2020 the threshold of 50% will also be overcome, "estimates are confirmed by the statistics of the Bank of Russia." Calculations based on data from the Central Bank for the nine months of 2019 give an estimate of 48.6%. If we take into account all expenditure transactions on cards, that is, to pay for goods and services, add transfers (P2P), then the share of non-cash transactions in the total volume will increase to 68.8%, Sberbank said.^[10]

2019

Growth of non-cash transactions from 24 billion transactions to 32 billion transactions

The number and volume of non-cash transactions has been increasing since 2008, when the statistics of the Central Bank have just begun to be collected. Thus, according to the Central Bank, non-cash payments increased from 24 billion transactions by 47.6 billion rubles in 2018 to 32 billion operations by 53.6 billion rubles a year later.

The share of non-cash payments in Russia exceeded 60%

This was announced in May 2019 by the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova during a meeting of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market. According to O. Skorobogatova, May statistics show that non-cash payments in Russia already account for 61%, in cash - 39%. She called the observed dynamics quite good and stressed that there is an increase in contactless payments.

Also, the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank recalled that for the first time the share of non-cash payments exceeded cash in the retail turnover of Russia at the end of 2018. Then it was 52%.

2017: Cash Payment Cap Plans

Expanding the share of cashless payments in the economy is in the interests of the government. This topic seems so important that in January 2017, the head of the Ministry of Finance Anton Siluanov proposed to return to the idea of ​ ​ limiting the circulation of cash. Later, First Deputy Prime Minister Igor Shuvalov had to clarify that the government in this matter does not intend to resort to administrative methods.

Cash is the backbone of the shadow economy. Therefore, the desire of the Russian authorities to switch to non-cash payments is obvious - in this case it will become easier to track both the movement of money and its origin. In addition, the Ministry of Finance is concerned about the need to increase budget revenues, primarily tax revenues. Cashless payments make it much easier.

The creation of favorable conditions for the development of a system of non-cash payments will help reduce the share of cash payments. For example, in Europe, the share of non-cash payments exceeds 70%. This is due to the fact that non-cash transactions are available there, even on the market you can pay with a card, and the cost of servicing a card transaction is a share of a percent. Today in Russia, the average transaction price is 3%. However, the investments of Russian banks in modern financial technologies will gradually reduce the cost of servicing cards.

"Some administrative measures can still be useful. The financial authorities should take a fresh look at the proposal of the Ministry of Finance in 2012 to limit the use of cash for large purchases in the amount of 600 thousand rubles, - said Oleg Yakushev, an expert at CERIH Capital Management, in June 2017. - At the moment, this idea can be returned, but the ceiling of operations can be set, for example, at the level of 2-2.5 million rubles. This category today falls mainly on real estate transactions. At the same time, a gradual slow decrease in the maximum amount should go simultaneously with the creation of conditions under which cashless payments will become the most convenient, simple and affordable settlement tool for both consumers and sellers of goods and services. "

2016: Boom in card settlements

The volume of non-cash payments in Russia is growing from year to year. At the same time, an increasing share of non-cash payments falls on payment cards: in 2016, according to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, operations to pay for goods and services using bank cards accounted for 80% of the total number of non-cash transactions.

Not only the share of operations in the percentage ratio is growing, but also their total volume - moreover, it is growing at a rapid pace. The data for the first quarter of 2017 indicate that compared to the same period in 2016, the volume of transactions using payment cards issued by Russian banks increased by 31% and reached 3.5 trillion. rubles.

Progress in this area will look even clearer if we turn to earlier statistics. So, in 2009, only in 21 cases out of 100 bank cards were used for a non-cash payment. By 2016, card transactions had risen to 71 out of 100. During the same period, the share of payment for goods and services with cards in the total volume of retail trade increased from 3.5% to 30.5%, that is, almost 9 times.

A significant increase in the share of non-cash card transactions over the past years has also been confirmed by the data of the Central Bank. According to Olga Skorobogatova, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation, annual growth is 6-8 percentage points, which is "a very good indicator."

Not only the number of non-cash card transactions is increasing, but also the number of active payment cards. In the first quarter of 2017, there were 140 million of them, which is 7.7% higher than in the same period last year. As for the issue itself, the number of cards for individuals reached 251.7 million units, which is 4.3% more than in the first quarter of 2016.

In total, in 2016, our fellow citizens made 17.9 billion transactions in the amount of 51.2 trillion rubles. On average, each Russian made 120 operations totaling 349.7 thousand rubles, while a year earlier - 90 operations in the amount of 283.8 thousand rubles. At the same time, with regard to payment for goods and services, there is a tendency to reduce the average check: in the first quarter of 2017 it amounted to 839 rubles, in the first quarter of 2016 - 917 rubles, in the first quarter of 2015 - 960 rubles. That is, credit cards are actively used to pay for regular small purchases, which is facilitated by the development of a network of POS terminals.

Growing issue volumes indicate that bank cards are a sought-after product. At the same time, the number of actively used cards is growing faster than the volume of issue. And the fact that at the same time the number of card transactions and their total volume are growing suggests that cards are in demand precisely as a payment tool. All this allows us to conclude that the Russians were able to see a number of advantages that the use of payment cards in calculations gives.

2012: Card payments in Russia overtook cash withdrawals for the first time

The volume of non-cash transactions made with bank cards in 2012 for the first time in Russia exceeded the volume of cash withdrawals at ATMs, said Roman Prokhorov, director of the settlement regulation department of the Central Bank, on March 26, 2013. According to him, the former accounted for 48% of all card transactions, and non-cash payments - 52%.

According to Prokhorov, this is primarily due to the development of an acquiring network of banks in the country, which is growing by an average of 10-15% per year, as well as the efforts of financial organizations themselves to stimulate customers to make card payments.

"Banks actively use various incentive programs, for example," Thank you from Sberbank, "in which, when calculating a card, the client is charged bonuses, which he can later use in the bank's retail chains," Prokhorov said in a conversation with TAdviser.

Prokhorov also told the publication that in 2013 he expects to increase the gap between the shares of cash withdrawals from cards and non-cash transactions in favor of the latter. He found it difficult to make a forecast for the distribution of shares, noting that this ratio will largely depend on how legislative measures will be taken in this regard: "if the law prescribes the mandatory application of card payments in retail chains, this will become a very important incentive factor for them," said TAdviser Prokhorov.

In 2012 , the Ministry of Finance was working on a bill that would oblige retail chains to accept cards for payment, and companies to transfer employees' salaries to bank cards, but it was not adopted.

Both banks and payment systems are interested in reducing the volume of cash payments in favor of card payments. In 2011, the head of Sberbank, German Gref, in his letter to Vladimir Putin, then the Prime Minister, noted that a large amount of cash slows down economic growth in the country.

According to a representative of the Central Bank, by the beginning of 2013, the total number of cards issued by banks in Russia was 240 million, 75% of which were active. A year ago, the same indicator was 65% of all issued cards, Roman Prokhorov cited the data.

See also

• Russian economy

Notes