Tinkoff Bank was included in the register of operators for issuing digital financial assets

Tinkoff (MOEX: TCSG)-bank became one of the information system operators issuing digital financial assets (DFAs), although its owner Interros already has a specialized Atomize. The bank does not disclose how they plan to enter the DFA market, noting only that they are planning “a number of experiments to release new products.” Experts consider Tinkoff Bank an “aggressive player” that can intensify competition in the just beginning to form and so far very calm market of digital financial assets.

Another information systems operator (OIS) appeared in Vladimir Potanin’s Interros group – March 28 Central Bank contributed Tinkoff Bank to the appropriate register. In the spring of 2022, Interros announced the purchase of 35% of TCS Group Holding, the parent structure of Tinkoff Bank (see “Kommersant” dated April 29, 2022). At the same time, the holding was acquired by Rosbank (see “Kommersant” dated April 22, 2022), credit institutions are now being integrated into one banking group based on TKS Holding (see “Kommersant” dated March 19).

Interros already has an OIS – Atomize, which was the first on the market to be included in the Central Bank register (see “Kommersant” dated February 4, 2022).

Tinkoff Bank clarified that the application for inclusion in the register was submitted last year. They note that they have accumulated “extensive experience in creating simple and understandable technological products”, taking into account which it is planned to conduct “a number of experiments with DFA and use our own developments to launch new products.”

As a market source told Kommersant, Atomize and Tinkoff Bank “allow for a scenario of partnership cooperation, negotiations are taking place in a positive manner.”

Atomaiz CEO Alexey Ilyasov noted that the company continues to “follow its strategy,” which includes “partnerships with banks, both within the Interros group and with other financial market players.” In particular, placements of digital financial instruments issued by Rosbank took place on this site.

A Kommersant source close to Interros clarified that there are no plans to merge OIS. He explained that Tinkoff Bank “has developed and is developing as an independent fintech platform.” “Now synergy occurs not through the merger of platforms, but through the coordination of strategies,” says Kommersant’s interlocutor.

Tinkoff Bank’s entry into the digital financial services market looks logical, given that the bank remains one of the largest brokers, says Lighthouse CEO Denis Iordanidi. Lighthouse and Tinkoff Business in 2022 developed a solution for automating operations with DFA (see “Kommersant” dated June 6, 2022).

However, a new line of business will require investment. According to Pavel Fedorov, CEO and founder of the Fractio tokenization platform, the start-up costs alone for creating an OIS technical platform could amount to 100–150 million rubles. depending on its functionality. Supporting the platform may require 10–15 million rubles. per month. In total, costs for the first year could amount to 0.3–1 billion rubles, he says.

Experts emphasize that there are still many risks in the DFA market: undeveloped legislation, few issues, insufficient legal practice, and no established sales and marketing mechanism. According to Mr. Fedorov, Tinkoff Bank “has already broken into the fast-growing market more than once – as a credit institution and then as a broker.” “He has good experience in this,” the expert admits. “However, there are risks of going too far in aggressive sales of DFA to investors.”

The emergence of such an active player in a market that is in its infancy will significantly intensify competition. According to Cbonds, several dozen DFA issues are now placed monthly, and only a small part of them exceed RUB 1 billion. “Small and medium-sized businesses, as the most target client for issuing digital digital documents, resort to this tool only on a limited basis,” explains Mr. Fedorov.

Tinkoff has both a huge base of corporate clients in the SME sector, as well as a retail base of potential investors and a very aggressive, experienced marketing machine, admits Pavel Fedorov. Among other IPOs, only Sberbank and Alfa Bank have such advantages. Therefore, the expert believes, now all participants in the DFA market will need to reconsider the sales and promotion strategy of their products: “If you don’t do all this right now, several IPOs will leave the market within a year or will be absorbed by competitors.”

Ksenia Kulikova