PayPal, the leading international online payment company, has according to unnamed sources taken “the strategic decision” to enter the Russian market, reported RBC Daily.
The business daily also reported—and PayPal confirmed to EWDN—that PayPal is holding discussions with MTS, VimpelCom and MegaFon, Russia’s leading mobile operators.
PayPal hopes to simplify the issue of account replenishment by integrating users’ PayPal accounts with their mobile accounts, giving the company a stronger platform on which to develop its business in Russia.
At present, a number of restrictions come with using the Russian language version of PayPal, prime among them the fact that PayPal currency is generally not accepted on Russian sites. However, Russian users are currently able to make payments on foreign sites and transfer money to PayPal users around the world.
Yandex.Dengi, an electronic currency provided by Russia’s leading search engine, and WebMoney, another Russian e-currency with a growing international presence, shared 90% of the local market in 2009, according to Electronic Money, a Russian industry association.
The electronic currency market is growing quickly in Russia, due to the overall growth of the Internet and e-commerce in the country and to the fact that bank cards are used in less than 20% of online purchases.
