Marketplaces will be given a discount on payments – Kommersant

From May 1, marketplaces will be able to halve the interbank commission, provided that they promote promotions at their own expense that increase the share of payments by cards and other services of the National Payment System (NPS). Experts are confident that this measure is primarily aimed at promoting payments through the Fast Payment System (FPS) at the expense of the trading platforms themselves, as well as card-issuing banks.

As it became known to Kommersant, from May 1, NSPK introduces a reduced interbank commission rate (interchange) for marketplaces (MCS, seller category code – 5300) in the amount of 0.5%. Today, the acquiring bank servicing the marketplace transfers to the bank that issued the card that was paid for the goods 1%, 0.9% or 0.8%, depending on how the site participates in the NSPK programs. For a commission of 1%, the marketplace needs to show the volume of interbank payments of at least 2 billion rubles. per quarter or at least 4 billion rubles. on interbank and intrabank transactions for the same period. In order for the commission to decrease to 0.9%, the marketplace, with the same payment volume indicators, must participate in the NSPK loyalty program. The bank will pay a commission of 0.8% if, in addition to the loyalty program, it participates in affiliate programs of the MIR PS.

The new commission, twice lower than the base one, will be available to marketplaces that, in addition to fulfilling all other requirements (turnover, NSPK loyalty program and Mira affiliate programs), will participate at their own expense in affiliate programs that are not related to NSPK.

The main condition is that these programs should be aimed at increasing the share of use of payment cards, as well as other NPS services.

Experts are sure that, first of all, we are talking about the Fast Payment System (FPS). A Kommersant source in the payment market believes that the new commission is being introduced under the Wildberries discount program when paying for SBP. “The original move is the promotion of the SBP at the expense of Mir card issuers,” notes the interlocutor of Kommersant. Wildberries has already held campaigns to promote payment through the SBP. So, from October 1, 2020, the marketplace introduced a 5% discount when paying via SBP, while when paying with a Mir card, the discount was 3%. The action was successful, according to the bankers, it led to a multiple increase in payments through the SBP.

Wildberries notes that participation in NSPK affiliate programs gives the company the opportunity to offer customers additional promotions, for example, a 3% discount on the entire purchase price when paying through the SBP and 5% when subscribing. “In addition, thanks to a lower acquiring commission, we can increase the amount of investment in our own loyalty program – a loyalty discount that is provided on almost any product and is funded entirely by the company,” they said.

The promotion with a 3% discount when paying through SBP ends just on May 1, and the 5% discount provided by the marketplace when linking an SBP account as a priority payment method has already ended. Thus, the new NSPK commission is more likely to motivate the marketplace to extend such promotions. Whether Wildberries plans to introduce NPS-related programs from May 1, they refused to say.

At the same time, the changes allow other marketplaces to receive a reduced commission, and they are ready to take advantage of this.

So, Ozon told Kommersant that they are already participating in NSPK affiliate programs.

The head of the board of the Financial Innovations Association, Roman Prokhorov, believes that this is the right step aimed at stimulating the participation of marketplaces in loyalty programs instead of banks. “NSPK has yet to find a balance between stimulating the development of SBP and Mir cards, but a fundamental decision has been made to support both products,” he is sure. Only when stimulating marketplaces, in his opinion, one should remember that they can have their own loyalty programs when paying with cards of their own banks.

Dmitry Vishnyakov, an independent expert in the payment card market, notes that the mechanism may reduce the income of issuing banks from transactions on marketplaces. “In fact, NSPK wants to compensate for marketing expenses at the expense of the income of issuers, such a mechanism will be beneficial for the marketplace, because they are probably not going to spend all the savings on promoting Mir cards,” Dmitry Vishnyakov believes. He adds that if SBPs and cards are compared under equal commercial conditions, then banks will promote a cheaper product for themselves and a safer one for customers. SBP, the expert clarifies, is still a fairly new product, and in any case, it will require banks to spend more on promotion than the usual cards.

Maxim Buylov