the volume of cross-border transfers will exceed the pre-sanction level in 2024 – Kommersant

The volume of cross-border transfers by VTB clients in 2024 will for the first time exceed the pre-sanction 2021 figure, said Deputy President and Chairman of the Board of VTB Georgy Gorshkov at the 14th VTB Investment Forum “Russia Calling!” It is expected that the figure will be above 200 billion rubles, which is five times more than in 2022 and three times more than in 2021.

“By the end of the year, the number of transfers will increase multiple times, and their volume may for the first time approach the pre-sanction level of last year and triple this figure as early as 2024,” said Mr. Gorshkov.

In January-November 2023, VTB retail clients made 275 thousand cross-border transfers in the currencies of friendly countries – five times more than during the same period in 2022. The volume of transfers amounted to 36 billion rubles. It is expected that by the end of the year, VTB clients will make more than 330 thousand cross-border transfers worth over 40 billion rubles. (four times more than in 2022).

By the end of the year, VTB plans that the number of available destinations will exceed 20 countries. In 2023, the leader in the number of operations was Tajikistan, which displaced Belarus and Kazakhstan into second and third places, respectively. The top five also included Kyrgyzstan and Uzbekistan. In terms of the volume of transfers, the leaders are Belarus, China, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan and Armenia.

Most often, money was transferred abroad using a phone number. The share of such transfers in November amounted to 72% of the total number of transactions. The share of transfers to cards of national payment systems of friendly countries was 18%. As VTB notes, alternative transaction methods have replaced transfers using bank details, which were previously in the lead. They now account for 9% of cross-border transfers.

According to the Central Bank, in July-September 2023, the volume of foreign currency cross-border transfers from individuals decreased by a third compared to the previous quarter, to $2.7 billion. Ruble transfers increased quarter-on-quarter by 49 billion rubles, to 267 billion rubles.

Read more about the Central Bank’s data in the Kommersant article. “Cross-border currency transfers of Russians continue to decline”.

Leonid Uvarchev