Russia traditionally ranks among the top countries in terms of the share of non-cash payments in trade turnover. Even after the departure of large international payment systems such as Visa and Mastercard in March last year, the share of non-cash payments not only did not decrease, but also increased by almost 10 percentage points - to 82.4%. (73% at the end of 2021).
This growth was also facilitated by the development of various payment methods, such as QR and NFC technologies. Now, in addition to cards and cash, customers can choose macedonia whatsapp number database to pay using Pay services of various banks and NFC, biometrics, or pay using the QR code of the Fast Payment System (FPS) or SberPay QR, which has already been joined by eight banks. In addition, in the future, cash registers may have another QR code , which will be intended for payment in digital rubles, the widespread use of which is planned from 2025.
All this diversity has led to customers becoming confused about how and in what way to pay, what needs to be scanned for this and what cashback they will receive upon payment. In order to systematize payment options and simplify the customer journey, the Central Bank and the market will soon work out the issue of creating a "unified QR", after scanning which the customer will be able to pay from the account and in the way they choose in the application.
The topic of creating a single or "unified QR" was raised by VTB Deputy Chairman Georgy Gorshkov at the end of the second plenary discussion at Finopolis on Wednesday. The session was also attended by Sberbank First Deputy Chairman Kirill Tsarev, and its moderator was the Central Bank First Deputy Chairman Olga Skorobogatova.
"Today, due to the availability of technologies, due to the fact that Russia is very advanced in fintech, we have put a lot of payment solutions and payment identifiers on the market, on the shelf. Today, you can pay with a card, and with this QR code, and that QR code, and with your face, and with something else. Why don't we think about a single payment identifier? So that I don't have to think every time about which place to put it to pay for a pack of chips, maybe we can make a single QR code?" Gorshkov addressed the participants of the session and the head of the National Payment Card System Vladimir Komlev, who was among the listeners.
According to Skorobogatova, the idea of linking to an account with a person choosing some payment identifier looks promising. Therefore, the Central Bank is ready to work on this idea if it is interesting not only to VTB. Then the first deputy chairperson asked what the largest Russian bank thinks about this idea, which did not share the enthusiasm of colleagues.
"The only thing that confuses me is the word 'unified'... All unified is the very same monopoly that the regulator is trying hard to fight. In my opinion, de facto the client should be given a convenient method, we agree. And which one - he should, in my opinion, choose himself," said Tsarev.
"Even today we see that in different methods there is a certain excitement between the seller and the buyer. And in some cases one method is advantageous, in some the other. At the same time, in my opinion, purely technologically in all these cases it will turn out that the client will be able to set up how he wants to write off," he added.