Modulbank, a Russian bank operating in 17 Russian cities, including Moscow, and providing online banking services to SMBs, has acquired three small fintech startups for an undisclosed amount. The news was reported by online publication CNews.ru based on an exchange with the head of the bank’s board of directors Andrey Petrov. Unicloud, one of the …
Russia’s Modulbank acquires three fintech startups Read More
Yandex.Checkout, the online payment solution offered by Yandex.Money, can now be used by app developers and e-merchants to accept contactless payment via Apple Pay. “This payment method may stimulate impulse purchases. Everything is so simple: one touch of a finger on your smartphone — and you are all set,” said Alexander Magomedov, Chief Commercial Officer …
Apple Pay made available to Russian e-merchants and app developers Read More
Russia’s Association Financial Innovation (AFI) released a “roadmap” for improving the regulation of the National Payment System (NSPK in Russian) that includes using blockchain technology, according to Plusworld, a Russian news source. Following discussion, the proposal is to be submitted to the Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance, the Federal Financial Monitoring Service and the …
Blockchain considered in proposal to improve regulating Russia’s National Payment System Read More
On Monday, the online wallet service Yandex.Money announced that it would stop allowing online transfers of money to individuals for political purposes in order to comply with Russian election laws—a decision many see as aimed at undermining opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who is using the service to crowdfund his 2018 presidential campaign. In a blog post published on Monday afternoon, …
Political crowdfunding by individuals no longer allowed in Russia Read More
RosEvroBank, a privately-owned Russian bank, announced that it has developed a prototype on remote customer identification system that is based on blockchain technology from Microsoft. The prototype system intends to dramatically change the market distribution of banking services. It will also change on how open-bank customers access to products and services of third-party banks that …
By voting amendments to the legislation on the provision of services earlier this month, the Russian parliament sounded the death knell for the Universal Electronic Card (UEC) project. A tangible manifestation of Russia’s all-embracing e-government ideas, the UEC was originally intended to incorporate or replace virtually all existing identifying information, from ID cards to student IDs and …
Russia’s national savings bank Sberbank has announced a “strategic agreement” with Sistema, a major Russian conglomerate, and Sistema_VC, the venture arm of Sistema, in the fields of advertising technology and Big Data monetization. Under the agreement, Sistema_VC is to acquire a 50% stake in Sberbank’s subsidiary Segmento for an undisclosed amount. Sistema_VC will also provide Segmento with expertise and …
Sberbank of Russia, the country’s largest banking institution, is planning to set up what it describes as a national e-commerce ecosystem with the use of its own resources and infrastructure. The system would be based on the model used by major international e-commerce platforms such as Alibaba Group of China. It is understood that the project will …
Sberbank mulls launch of national e-commerce system in Russia Read More
Russian anti-corruption lawyer and politician Alexei Navalny is accepting donations in bitcoin in his newly-announced bid for the 2018 presidential election, according to the candidate’s website. The campaign also accepts Yandex.money, bank cards and PayPal. On Tuesday, Leonid Volkov, head of Navalny’s electoral campaign tweeted that in the first 3.5 hours of his campaign, he received his first …
Putin critic and Russian presidential candidate Alexei Navalny accepts bitcoin donations Read More
Russia’s biggest bank is paying up to keep the nation’s best tech talent from emigrating to Silicon Valley. To analyze 135 million customers, it needs the power of big data. Sberbank PJSC, which holds 46% of Russian retail deposits, says it’s luring experts in the field with some of the highest salaries at the state-owned …
Tech hires see Russia’s Sberbank catching up on Big Data Read More
Qiwi, a Russian payment system operator and one of the country’s most active cryptocurrency players, will launch a test to track energy transactions using Blockchain technology in partnership with Tavrida Electric, one of the world’s leading suppliers of circuit breakers and a global energy smart grid supplier. Each Tavrida Electric transaction will be recorded on …
Qiwi is working on a Blockchain energy project in Crimea Read More
A document by the federal tax authority in Russia has revealed its first official stance on the legal status of cryptocurrencies and it makes for good reading for adopters of bitcoin and other digital countries in the Russian federation. The document deems trading of bitcoin and other digital currencies as foreign currency transactions according to …
Bitcoin legal by default in Russia, confirms new federal tax document Read More
