Collectors start transfers – Newspaper Kommersant No. 203 (7404) dated 11/01/2022
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A new payment system (PS) has appeared on the Russian market, which will deal only with cross-border transfers. One of the leaders in the cash collection market, Inkahran, became its operator. There is an increased demand for transfers abroad, and after the exit of a number of large players from the market, the new PS has the opportunity to find its niche.
On October 31, the Bank of Russia registered a new Astrasend payment system, which plans to deal with cross-border transfers between individuals, as well as from individuals to legal entities and vice versa. The operator of the PS is the NCO Inkakhran. The maximum transfer amount, according to the rules of the PS, is $5,000, while there is also a limit on the amount of the transfer per day. Transfers will be sent and issued to the recipient in rubles or dollars. Inside the country, the new PS is not going to work.
NPO “Inkahran” was registered with the Central Bank in March 2005. According to the latest open reporting, as of October 1, 2021, 100% belonged to the Moscow Credit Bank (MKB). Inkahran is one of the largest players in the cash collection market. At the end of 2021, the profit amounted to 55 million rubles.
Astrasend is the second payment system registered by the Central Bank this year. The first in mid-April was the PS “Hello”, which at the time of the announcement of its registration promised to make transfers in rubles, dollars, euros and yuan. The company’s website is still under development.
According to a Kommersant source in the payment market, the Astrasend project already has agreements with a number of banks from neighboring countries. As the interlocutor of Kommersant explained, the PS decided to focus on cross-border transfers for two reasons: firstly, it is quite difficult to compete domestically with Sberbank and SBP, and secondly, there is a great demand for transfers abroad. In addition, a Kommersant source noted that after a number of large money transfer systems left the Russian market, in particular Western Union, “there was an opportunity to assemble a team of high-quality specialists.” It is planned that the list of countries to which transfers of the new system will be available will appear in November.
The demand for cross-border transfers has indeed increased recently. So, according to the head of the Uzbek Central Bank Mamarizo Nurmuradov, in January-September the volume of money transfers to Uzbekistan from abroad increased by 2.2 times, to $12.6 billion. and Azerbaijan are growing quite actively. According to him, the volume of import transactions between the countries in the first nine months of 2022 increased by 30% (year-on-year) and reached $2 billion.
Intensified money exchange, including the mass exodus of Russians from the country after the start of mobilization.
Today, there are several companies operating in the translation market in Russia, the most famous of which are Zolotaya Korona, Kontakt and Unistream. Also, the largest banks, such as Sberbank and others, are developing their projects for cross-border transfers. At the same time, cross-border transfers are divided approximately in half between money transfer systems and banks (among them, more than 95% are accounted for by Sberbank).
Chairman of the Board of the National Payments Council Alma Obaeva believes that the emergence of a new PS, especially specializing in cross-border transfers in the current conditions, is an interesting step. “The main issue is opening correspondent accounts in foreign banks for settlements,” she clarifies. Viktor Dostov, chairman of the Association of Electronic Money Market Participants and Money Transfers, believes that this project, like similar ones, “balances between the demand for cross-border transactions and partners’ concerns about secondary sanctions.”
However, not all experts believe that there is room for new players in the market. The executive director of the National Payment Association, Maria Mikhailova, notes that this segment in Russia is already “extremely competitive” and if the new PS is going to gain a foothold for a long time, then it will require large investments in advertising and promotion. The head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association, Roman Prokhorov, believes that the segment of cross-border transfers today attracts increased attention, given the unresolved problems, however, the tools for solving them within the framework of traditional settlements are clearly small. Under these conditions, the expert emphasizes, the effectiveness, including economic, of new players entering the market is questionable.
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