Growth is more important than profit – Kommersant

Banks owned by marketplaces showed losses at the end of 2022. But their development strategy involves rapid growth, which requires large operating costs, the owners explain. In addition, banks are not separate businesses, they must increase the margin and profitability of the entire marketplace ecosystem. Thus, the financial projects of marketplaces have not yet left the investment stage.

According to IFRS statements for 2022, the loss of Yandex-bank amounted to 607.9 million rubles, Ozon-bank – 196.3 million rubles, Wildberry-bank – 8.9 million rubles. The operating expenses of these banks increased several times over the past year. Yandex-bank increased them five times, up to 1.4 billion rubles, Ozon-bank — 1.3 times, up to 284.7 million rubles, Wildberry-bank — 1.4 times, up to 136.5 million rub.

Marketplaces, however, do not see problems in such results of their banks and attribute them to the fact that credit organizations are at the stage of active development and require investment. This, of course, is associated with significant operating costs – the development of infrastructure and technologies, the expansion of the team, marketing, they say in Yandex. “Breaking even, of course, is our strategic goal,” they noted. “At this stage of development, it is important for us to build a scalable business, and we are ready to invest in further growth.”

The loss relates to the reporting of Ozon-bank, which worked with a basic license, however, most of the operations were carried out on the basis of Ekom-bank with a universal banking license, created in March 2022, emphasizes Victor Tantsyrev, CFO of Ozon Fintech: “Ekom-bank’s profit for incomplete 2022 amounted to more than 1.4 billion rubles, and the audience of our fintech product Ozon Cards reached 16 million people in 2022, almost half of the active audience of the marketplace.” In “Wildberry” did not answer “Kommersant”.

“Development prospects are associated with synergy between the bank and the marketplace, when the bank expands its client base by offering financial services and products to partners and buyers of marketplaces, including through the use of customer loyalty programs, and marketplaces increase trade turnover,” explains the bank ratings analyst NRA Natalia Bogomolova.

The bank is not a profit center in the ecosystem, but rather a tool and a way to implement innovative projects that should make other (often the main) offerings of the ecosystem more profitable and attractive, says Egor Krivosheya, head of the blockchain and fintech laboratory at the Skolkovo School of Management. For example, issuing loans on the marketplace or opening an account is intended to stimulate the activity of consumers and sellers rather to earn on sales, and not on financial services directly, he continues.

“So far, the financial projects of marketplaces have not left the investment stage. Most likely, in 2023 they will not come out of it either, since their growth and rapid development remain a more important story, – considers Mikhail Burmistrov, CEO of Infoline-Analytics. in order to more effectively develop sales, increase market share, increase the basket, improve its economy, especially in the current economic conditions, when consumers have switched to a savings model.

The business of financial areas in non-financial companies will gain momentum, Yegor Krivosheya is sure. “We see a clear trend towards an increase in the number of non-financial players in the financial services market and a deepening of the penetration of their services into human life,” the expert notes. “Marketplaces, telecom operators, developers, and retailers presented their fintech services. Most likely, the profitability of separate banking will not be a priority.” The main thing, Mr. Krivosheya believes, will remain the development of the core business through financial services, and this complicates competition for classical financial companies, so the regulator may intervene in the market at the stage when and if the volumes of non-financial companies will grow actively.

Polina Trifonova