Internet payments is one of the more rapidly growing sectors of the financial sector in Russia.
Photo: Nikolay Cyiganov
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Internet Payments Show Rise
Of the total cashless payments made by individuals in Russia in 2007, 19.4 percent of them (657 billion rubles) were made by plastic card and 9.4 percent were made on the Internet, according to a report released by the Central Bank of Russia on June 3. That is a high indicator for financial activity on the Internet for a developing country. On June 11, eight days after requesting comment, the Central Bank explained to Kommersant that “the volume of payments made by credit organizations on the basis of credit instructions made by individuals to a credit organization (or its branch) through the Internet network” totaled 285.2 billion rubles. That is 218.2-percent growth since 2006. Calculations based on the published data give a figure of 318.3-percent growth, but that does not change the impression of rapid growth.
The problem is that it is impossible to say exactly what are the operations that led to such a high indicator. The Central Bank claims that it receives the data “in aggregate form.” That means that it is not possible to estimate the portion of the sum that is connected with electronic commerce. Based on the description of Internet payment in Central Bank Order No. 1376, which is the basis for the figures published June 3, payments made through an online service, such as Yandex.Dengi or WebMoney, payments made online by credit card and payments made for cellular telephones and Internet service at payment terminals or supermarket cashiers may be considered Internet payments.
The Kiberplat online payment system states that its turnover in 2007 reached $4.74 billion, an 80-percent increase in one year. There are 170,000 payment points in its system. According to the Central Bank, there are a total of 240,000 electronic payment terminals in Russia. Thus, it can be concluded that there is still little real electronic commerce in Russia, but many electronic payment terminals.
www.kommersant.com
All the Article in Russian as of June 16, 2008
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