HOW ARE PAYMENTS BUSINESS AND CASH CIRCULATION IN 2024? SUMMARISING THE SEPTEMBER PLUS-FORUM - EVEN MORE POPULAR, EVEN MORE TOPICAL!

On September 10-11, 2024, the International PLUS-Forum “Payments and Cash Circulation”, one of the most significant events in the financial sector of Russia and the CIS, was held at the Radisson Slavyanskaya Hotel & Business Center in Moscow.

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The two-day PLUS-Forum brought together top managers of the Bank of Russia, the RF Ministry of Finance, NSPK, Rosfinmonitoring, Sber, Gazprombank, Alfa-Bank, VTB Bank, OZON Bank, Russian Standard Bank, Rosinkas, Avito and many more.

Full photo report on how it was during the PLUS-Forum

“Payments and Cash Circulation” 2024

At the event, products and services were presented by major representatives of the banking sector such as: Gamma-Center; HSR; Centerm; Weststein; A3; Payselection; Aston; LIFE PAY; Sberbank; SberTech; SAGA Technologies; Atmosphere; Benzuber; BFS; DEEP2000 and many others.

In total, more than 100 exhibitors from about 20 countries, including China, South Korea, Türkiye, Cyprus, Serbia, and the CIS countries, took part in the large-scale exhibition that was open on both days of the Forum.

Over 3,000 applications for participation were submitted by delegates from around the globe to set a new attendance record. 116 leading industry experts spoke at the PLUS-Forum.

Day One

The PLUS-Forum participants focused on a wide range of topical aspects of further digitalization of the financial industry. They discussed the current state and prospects for the digitalization of public services, issues related to e-commerce, banking and the payments industry in Russia and beyond, as well as the evolution of cash circulation. Special attention was paid to the current trends in the CIS and EAEU member states and other countries and regions.

Аs tradition has it, PLUS-Forum Steering Committee Chairman Alexander Grizov greeted the PLUS-Forum delegates with his welcoming speech. “In 2024, we still face more challenges to be deeply discussed and solved as compared to the entire 15-year history of the event,” he noted.

Plenary session “Retail Banking and Payments Industry 2024” opened the Forum.

The session was moderated by Ilya Ivaninsky, partner expert of Yakov & Partners, director of the Center for Business Education and Analytics at the Central University, who spoke about the development of ecosystems with the integrated elements of retail banking and payments industry.

In his report “BTL capabilities of digital platforms”, Valery Korneev, Chairman of the Union of Digital Platform Users “Digital World”, noted that digital platforms often draw resources from related sectors of the economy.

Victor Dostov, Chairman of the Association of E-Money and Money Transfer Market Participants (AED), reported on “Smart products with and without AI: cards, toketns, loans”.

Dmitry Malykh, Senior Vice President, Head of Transaction Banking at Sberbank, spoke about the bioacquiring development prospects in Russia. In particular, he noted that about 200 thousand devices for biometric payments were installed at the end of 2022, with their current installation base exceeding 750 thousand terminals now.

Sergey Khromov, Vice President, Deputy Director of the Payment Technologies Department, T-Bank, highlighted the prospects for the Unified QR Code implementation based on a consortium of banks. He noted the recent rapid growth of Pay services and their large share in the payments sector, especially in Russia, with their projected market share to reach some 61% by 2027.

Sergey Belyakov, President, National Association of Non-State Pension Funds (NAPF), spoke about the long-term savings program as a new opportunity to strengthen Russia's technological sovereignty.

The session “Business and Technology. Payments Business Today” was moderated by recognized industry expert Elman Mekhtiev, Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Expert Board for Protection of Financial Services Consumers’ Rights. With his inherent humor, he described his personal experience of using biometrics, noting that most often these technologies either failed to properly reach the service sector, or users face difficulties in using them.

Pavel Chebotarev, Head of Strategy and Marketing at the Center for Biometric Technologies, highlighted the prospects for biometrics in the payments business in the Russian Federation.

The report by Inna Emelyanova, Executive Director and Head of Acquiring at Russian Standard Bank, was dedicated to “Innovations in Payment Instruments”.

Artyom Skvortsov, Founder of BENZUBER, spoke about integrating payment ecosystems into the fuel business. He also presented a promising application prototype that will allow users to pay for gas stations’ services online.

Alexander Antonov, Head of LIFE PAY, a payment solutions platform, dwelled on the requests of prospective clients and the ways financial ecosystems can accommodate their requests.

Alexey Odedesion, Executive Vice-President in charge of development at A3 Payment Service, focused on the current goals the banks are facing today, including retaining money and clients in applications; increasing their share of the transaction market; increasing sales of high-margin products.

Ildar Skrizhalin, CEO of INTECHCARD, spoke about the prospects for implementing new technologies in the financial sector.

Elena Gribok, Head of Acquiring&Transaction Services at MKB, reported on “Support for Various Payment Methods on POS During the Terminal Equipment Renewal on the Market”.

Igor Goldovsky, Head of Innovations / Chief Architect, National Payment Card System (NSPK), spoke about innovations in payment card systems subsequent upon sanctions and new cryptography technologies.

Also on September 10, a Cooperation Agreement was signed between PLUS Group, represented by CEO Konstantin Grizov, and the Eurasian Business Association, represented by its president Maxim Chistyakov.

When opening the working program of the PLUS-Forum Conference section dedicated to the current issues of cash circulation, PLUS Group CEO and Steering Committee Deputy Chairman Konstantin Grizov addressed the audience with a welcoming speech, expressing sincere appreciation to main sponsors of the PLUS-Forum, “and first of all, to Global Sponsor Gamma-Center, our long-term partner, and General Sponsors HSR and Centerm, as well as to all the partners and sponsors of our event!

Speaking at the session “Implementation of cash circulation strategy. Most important trends 2021-2025”, moderator Alexey Voylukov, MBA, professor of business practice in digital finance at RANEPA, dwelled on an important issue such as the conformity of the cash circulation strategy with current trends and described development forecasts. According to the expert, cash still remains an important factor in the everyday life of society. Besides, it is supposed to function as reserve money in case of natural disasters, techno-catastrophes, etc. that may occur in the future.

Vasily Prokofiev, Director of Cash Circulation Department at the Bank of Russia, outlined trends, challenges and solutions in the cash circulation. According to a survey conducted by the Bank of Russia, more than 80% of respondents always carry at least 300 rubles in cash, which gives evidence of the continuing need for cash among both the population and businesses. Cash, as Vasily Prokofiev emphasized, remains a guarantor of stability in crisis situations.

The role and place of cash circulation amidst the changing payment landscape was also analyzed by Georgy Kornilov, Deputy General Director for Marketing and Strategy, Director of the Scientific Research Institute, a branch of Goznak. According to the speaker, over the past 10 years, the share of cash payments has been decreasing, while non-cash payments have been growing. Today, their estimated ratio is 9:1 (non-cash and cash, respectively), and this probably reflects a certain established dynamic balance.

Modernization of banknotes is an important step in strengthening trust in the national currency and reducing the risks associated with counterfeiting. This opinion was expressed by Tatyana Aleksandrova, Head of Banknotes & Counterfeit Deterrence Division, Bank of Russia.

Konstantin Podvalny, Head of Self-service Device Network Management, Sberbank, analysed the client's digital journey in the management of the network of devices.

Well-developed interaction between the regulation vertical and the civil institutions horizontal will ensure the sustainability of the cash circulation system – this was discussed by Elena Melanich, Chairperson of the Board of the Cash Circulation Association.

Sergey Vereikin, Deputy Board Chairman, ROSINKAS Association, emphasized that the share of cash payments is falling, the cash collection services market is shrinking and approaching a critical point when it is difficult to maintain business profitability. Incidentally, the profitability of the cash collection business is on average 1.5–2% worldwide.

The session “Cash in the new realities. Current state and future of the market of self-service banking devices” was moderated by Maxim Daryoshin, an ATM networks expert with 15 years’ background with leading financial institutions such as Alfa-Bank, Tinkoff (now T-Bank) and VTB. Analyzing the specifics of evaluating the self-service device network performance, he shared insights on how to enhance the operation of ATM networks to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

Georgiy Papayants, Head of Strategic Client Relationships at Gamma-Center, presented an innovative solution for counting and sorting machines (CSM). He noted that one of the main challenges for the company was providing customers with counting and sorting equipment against the backdrop of exit of some foreign manufacturers from the market. In response to these challenges, a new CSM was developed with a unique vertical pocket architecture, making the sorter the most compact in its class — the length of the machine is as few as 2 meters.

In his report “Gamma-Center: a systemically important participant in the cash circulation industry. Challenges and solutions”, Gamma-Center Board Chairman Sergey Kostromin emphasized that DoCash equipment continues to meet the current demands of market participants. The expert analyzed in detail the range of the company’s solutions for various tasks of cash circulation, in the context of the trends dominating the market. These solutions are supplied today to more than 20 countries around the world.

Valery Tolkachev, Managing Director, IT-department “Sales Network”, Sberbank, noted that the basic criteria for choosing a specific vendor solution are quite diverse and include cost, security, support, etc. In this context, for the purpose of objective analysis, it is worthwhile to create a certain digital map covering the full set of such criteria.

Deposit machines and automation are the future of cash collection, said Vladimir Ulikhin, CEO of DIIP 2000. In his speech, he discussed the development of Russian technologies and noted that deposit machines are becoming a key element of the market.

Oksana Kalashnikova, Chief Commercial Officer at SAGA Technologies, spoke about localization of production and synergy of technologies as a basis for technological sovereignty and product diversification.

Yuri Sivakov, Head of Technical Competence Center, Goznak, emphasized that Goznak is actively working energetically to create new counting and sorting machines (CSM), as well as identification and personalization equipment that meet the needs of commercial banks.

Alexey Shershnev, CIO, Fazum, spoke at the panel session “Forward in one step: How innovative approaches can help small and medium banks become fintech leaders”, supported by Rostelecom. He discussed how digital divides can be bridged using cloud solutions available to banks.

Vyacheslav Arutyunyan, COO, Fazum, spoke about the ecosystem for Rostelecom suppliers as a sales channel for banks.

Oleg Gorlov, Sales Office Director at Fuzzy Logic Labs, shared his views on new import substitution technologies.

“Synergy of the domestic cyber industry – what exactly is worth attention in the current reality” was the topic of the presentation by Nikolay Dosh, Head of Digital Development at Fuzzy Logic Labs.

Among other session participants were Anastasia Khveshchenik, Head of webProxy Product at Solar, and

Alexey Maslov, Co-Chairman of the Payment Systems Committee, Association of Russian Banks, who moderated the sesion.

The round table “Development and regulation of cash collection and CIT services market”, moderated by Sergey Barsukov, Cash Circulation Committee Chairman, Association of Corporate Treasurers, began in an unconventional way – a medal was awarded here for the first time in the history of the PLUS-Forum.

ROSINKAS President Vasily Medvedev awarded Sergei Barsukov with a commemorative medal “"For Contribution to the Development of Cash Collection”.

Mikhail Belousov, CEO, Veles-Express, noted that regulation in the form of dumping restrictions could help bring the market to a profitable level.

Alexey Kabanov, Chief Commercial Officer, Board Member, ROSINKAS Association, noted that not only CIT companies, but also banks are interested in limiting “gray” schemes: “If regulation is introduced, banks will not have to change their processes, since cash collection is an activity provided for in a banking license. So, it is exactly “gray” carriers who will get under blow. Large banks support regulated minimum fees for cash collection services in order to get over with dumping.”

Sergey Konychev, Head of Regular Business Division, VTB, expressed confidence that the market should be regulated as regards fee schedules, with a minimum number of carriers per region – “at least three” – to be available.

Alexey Ponomarenko, Senior Managing Director, Head of Department, Cash circulation management Centre, Sberbank of Russia, expressed doubts about the exclusively positive impact of regulation on the cash collection market and shared a number of objective concerns about the future directions of this trend.

Maxim Manchenko, First Deputy Head of Production, Courier Communication Central Board, believes the market can hardly cope with the current problems on its own. He called dumping the main disease, so, restrictions could become a remedy.

Nadezhda Malyukh, Independent Operations Director, Expert Council Chairperson, Cash&Valuables Management Association, noted that in terms of regulation, the market needs tools that can make the situation more predictable, defined and transparent.

Maxim Lyalkin, Deputy Head of Cash Circulation Infrastructure, Business Operational Support Department, VTB Bank, is confident that the issue is primarily in the level of regulation. Thus, in a number of regions you can hardly find even as few as three players in the cash collection segment, accordingly, regulation in such regions will be limited to introducing minimum fees.

In the opinion of Alexander Gorinov, Head of Transaction Products Development, Alfa-Bank, it is necessary to focus on the consumer of cash collection services, therefore, such services should be simple and transparent. For example, carriers could be required to publish lists of banks they work with in each region.

Andrey Korolev, First Vice President, Gazprombank, and Alexander Alyakrinsky, Project Manager, Absolut Bank, participated in the discussion as well.

The round table “Digital financial assets. Factual information, reasons of and prospects for the DFA market growth. Digital platforms development plans and expectations” turned into a lively discussion closely watched by the Forum audience. Participants discussed global trends in the use of DFAs. The session was moderated by Dmitry Aksakov, Executive Director of VEB.RF Business Block. He informed that the total number of investors in the DFA market in the Russian Federation exceeded 200 thousand people in 2024.

Roman Khorin, Head of Fintech at Uniteller, spoke about global tokenization trends. In particular, he noted that the global market for tokenization of financial instruments sees a rapid growth today. The market volume has more than doubled since the beginning of 2023 to reach $11 billion as of August 2024, that is, in 1 year and 8 months.

Head of DFA Development at the FinTech Association Alexandra Vershinina spoke about the impact of digital financial assets on the country's economy.

Yaroslav Murashkin, Head of Debt Financing, Finance Department, of Rostelecom, noted that the company does not just invest in DFAs, but relies on a well-thought strategy in this area.

Alexey Ilyasov, CEO, Atomaize, spoke about the variability of using digital financial assets

Denis Baganov, Head of Treasury, Wildberries, shared the company's experience in issuing digital financial assets.

Oleg Ushakov, Chairman of the Committee on DFAs, the Chamber of Commerce and Industry of the Russian Federation, said that the model of fully decentralized finance (DeFi) is unlikely to be implemented in Russia, since regulation always requires a subject – a platform, a person raising funds, or an investor.

The session “Goals and objectives of banking in the context of modern digital business. Prospects and new technologies” was of particular interest to the Forum participants.

The session was moderated by Roman Prokhorov, Board Chairman, Association of Financial Innovations.

Vsevolod Egorov, Deputy Chief Commercial Officer, Payselection,

and Pavel Kabakov, CPO, Payselection, analyzed the key factors of payment services success in 2024.

Yaroslav Kabakov, Head of Strategy, FINAM investment company, gave a presentation dedicated to “Payments in China: Specifics and Prospects”.

Bank payment services for retail. What is good and what is bad? Stanislav Poddubrovsky, Head of Payment Business Center, Direct Credit Center, M.Video-Eldorado Group, shared his vision on this matter.

Julia Bazhanova, Chief Digital Transformation Officer at Aston, discussed what banking will be like in 2030.

Elena Tyatenkova, Senior Vice President, Head of Branch Management, Alfa-Bank, spoke about the client experience at the junction of digital and physical space.

Also, a joint presentation was made at the session by State Secretary and Deputy Director of the Federal Financial Monitoring Service German Neglyad and Advisor to Ingosstrakh Bank Board Chairman Aliya Yusupova. They spoke about the specifics of the regulatory framework for financial intermediaries: bank payment agents (BPA) and non-bank payment service providers (NPSP).

As German Neglyad noted in his speech, the implementation of digital products and innovative technologies should be based on balanced legal regulation. In particular, compliance with anti-money laundering legislation by the financial industry players should be a special focus area.

For her part, Aliya Yusupova noted that digital rights, the digital ruble and tokenized non-cash money in accounts in commercial banks turned out to be the most adapted to the total digitalization.

Among other session participants were Alexey Zotov, CEO, eKassir,

and Alexey Maslov, Сo-chairman of Payment Systems Committee, Association of Banks of Russia.

The round table “Myths and Realities Around the Situation with the Availability and Shortage of Employees in the Banking and Payment Segment” was moderated by Alena Vladimirskaya, headhunter and career consultant, CEO LAB.

During the lively discussion, experts considered, among other things, the following question: “The salary race in Russia has raised the value of any position by 15-45% in the recent two years and it keeps growing. How can it be stopped without sacrificing the quality of employees?”

Elena Salikhova, an independent consultant on HR management in the fintech industry, Ex-SVP and Head of HR at Otkritie Bank, noted that most of the surveyed banks cannot afford fixed salary growth and plan to start “embedding” salary increases into KPIs from 2025.

Anna Karimova, Communications Advisor, ROSINKAS Association, noted: “According to official statistics, inflation over the last two years has been 15-16%, where does 45% come from? I think these are deferred expectations of income growth, plus a catalyst was the economic growth that outstripped forecasts.

Other participants in the round table:

· Olga Sadomskaya, HR Directort, Rosselkhozbank

· Yulia Yudina, HR Director, Robokassa

Loyalty programs are getting increasingly personalized – this was the opinion reached by participants of the round table “Goals and objectives of the reward programs. Main tendencies. Further development paths of modern loyalty programs”

The round table was moderated by Alexander Markov, Head of the BNPL service “Podeli” (divide) - Alfa-Bank partner.

Roman Sinenko, Head of Loyalty Program department, VTB, emphasized that in the modern banking business, each client is of great importance, and loyalty is becoming the most important tool to motivate them. The speaker also noted that loyalty should be personalized and tailored to the client - this is a key trend of recent years.

Ekaterina Snigir, Head of Ecosystem Development and Vice President for Partnership Programs at Ingosstrakh, spoke about the development of loyalty and partnership programs in the context of digital analytics. The key trend was that banks and companies have finally learned to calculate the economic efficiency of their programs. Not every cashback program brings real value, and now the focus is brought on personalized accruals.

Alexey Komolov, an independent consultant on customer loyalty, drew attention to the fact that it is impossible to achieve 100% loyalty, especially in the banking sector and card business. Loyalty programs are perceived differently for each client, and this is especially important to consider when dealing with different generations.

A powerful final chord of the first day of the Forum was a discussion on a more than relevant topic: “Crypto industry, digital currencies and digital assets 2024. Current state, main trends, development scenarios”

The session was moderated by Alexey Voylukov, MBA, Professor of Business Practice in Digital Finance at RANEPA

Philipp Larin, Vice President, International Payment Alliance, presented the most current solutions for cross-border payments.

Osman Kabaloev, Deputy Director, Financial Policy Department, Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, spoke about the regulation of cryptocurrency mining in the Russian Federation.

Maria Bolobonova, lawyer, Partner at Belykh and Partners Bar Association, Member of the Expert Council of the State Duma of the Russian Federation on the legislative regulation of cryptocurrencies, offered an analysis of the legislative framework in the field of digital and crypto assets.

Sergey Bezdelov, PhD, Director of Industrial Mining Association, informed about the adjustment of mining regulation in Russia. The speaker also noted that since the adoption of the law on mining, the demand for mining equipment has increased threefold.

Angelina Akimenko, Director for Advanced Financial Technologies, Russian Export Center, spoke about the risks associated with the use of cryptocurrencies.

Other dialoguers:

Anti Danilevsky, Founder, cryptocurrency exchange KickEX.com, and Andrey Mikhailishin, Head of the Cross-Border Settlements Commission at RF CCI, Head of the BRICS Pay Task Force, BRICS Business Council.

The most relevant topics of the final part of the discussion were “Digital currencies and instruments for cross-border payments” and “Development of blockchain technologies, trends in the world and the Russian Federation”.

Dmitry Gorokhovsky, Head of Product Development at PSB, spoke about the prospects for using the digital ruble.

As tradition has it, the first day of the PLUS-Forum ended in an evening program featuring stand-up comedians and an awards ceremony for the participants. Speakers, guests and delegates could communicate in an informal atmosphere, establish long-term business connections and find new productive contacts.

Day Two

It was on September 11, the second day of the PLAS-Forum 2024, that Goznak presented its line of equipment as part of the program of import independence of the Russian cash circulation. Yuri Sivakov, Head of Instrument Engineering Department, Goznak, spoke in more detail about the equipment capabilities.

Also, the sessions of the second day of the PLUS-Forum conference featured reports and presentations of recognized local and international banking experts from different countries.

Fintech firms and banks need to establish partnerships – this was the conclusion reached by the participants of the discussion “Fintech. Non-stop evolution of banking. Have we forgotten why and for what purpose fintech appeared on the banking market?”, which began the second day of the Forum.

The session was moderated by Maxim Mitusov, an expert in payments and money transfers, formerly Yandex Fintech and SBP.

Pavel Novikov, Director of the Center for Expertise and Commercialization in the IT and Fintech Sector, Skolkovo Fintech Hub, demonstrated a map of Russian fintech startups developed by the company.

Dmitry Salabaev, Head of Innovations, SPAR-Kaliningrad, spoke about the payment service in retailer's application using the company's own case as an example.

Rodion Beskrovny, Product Director, LIFE PAY, presented his report titled “Solutions for payment organization partners”.

Alexander Magomedov, Board Chairman, Bank 131, spoke about modern trends in Russian fintech.

Dmitry Kolesnikov, B2B Transaction Business Leader at Ozon Bank, dwelled upon the realities of modern Russian fintech. He defined solutions for cross-border transfers as the main trend.

Evgeny Boronin, Head of Billing Products, Avito, also took an active part in the discussion.

Vitaly Kopysov, Head of Innovations at Sinara Bank, emphasized the importance of regulation in the fintech sector and establishing partnerships between banks and fintechs. The expert, paraphrasing the famous evangelical quote, suggested “giving to banks what is banks’ and to fintech what is fintech’s.”

The specific features of building Russian ATMs were discussed at the session “Import substitution of hardware and software solutions in cash circulation 2024. Current situation. Forecasts. Technologies and banking infrastructure today”.

Artyom Krukovets, Technical Director at BFS, reviewed the company's experience in import substitution, an area that the company has been developing since 2020. During this period, the company's own design and engineering bureau was formed, and a line of self-service banking devices was developed. As the speaker stated, BFS plans to produce by the end of 2026 the first ATM completely consisting of domestic components.

“Technological sovereignty in ATM software can be achieved even now... but there are some nuances” - this conclusion was reached by session moderator Konstantin Khotkin, Chief Commercial Officer, Centre of expert software support (CESPO). He analyzed the aspects of creation of Russian software for ATMs and its advantages.

Sergey Volkhonskiy, Vice President, SmartCard-Service, and Elena Polovnikova, Development Director, Finstream, paid special attention to the experience and specifics of implementing projects based on exported Russian ATM software in Ecuador.

Alexander Leshchev, Head of Self-Service Systems Development, Alfa-Bank, shared the bank's experience in implementing Russian ATMs, including their implementation as part of the bank's regional expansion.

The equipment for processing Goznak banknotes was presented by Yuri Sivakov, Head of Instrument Engineering at Goznak. That was a line of Russia-manufactured counting and sorting machines (CSM), as well as a number of other solutions that meet global trends in technology development. Yuri Sivakov also unveiled a new CSM model currently under development.

Transparency and convenience of the client path are the key to the growing popularity of BNPL. This is the conclusion reached by the participants of the round table “BNPL – advantages and risks. The ideal client path to spending planning. Banks or fintech – who has a better chance of winning the turf?”

The session was moderated by Alexander Michurin, Chief Commercial Officer, BNPL service “Podeli” (divide), a partner of Alfa-Bank. The participants discussed a number of topical issues, including the prospects for further development of BNPL in Russia, the niche of services and the customer value of BNPL. They also touched upon the problem of regulating these services.

Roman Vasilyan, CEO, BNPL service “Podeli” (divide), a partner of Alfa-Bank, noted that banks are interested in the new payment service, which has become a hygienic minimum of the payment infrastructure. The BNPL payment instrument in retail has begun to develop in sectors where it did not exist before.

Dmitry Kurganov, Head of Mobile and e-Commerce, MTS Fintech, recalled that installment plans were already in practice in Soviet times, but the client path was very complex and difficult. Now it is significantly simplified. Seamless procedures and the ability of merchants to elegantly and quickly integrate installment plans into their services have changed the market

According to Dmitry Seregin, Head of the BNPL service “Dolyame.ru” (split payment), BNPL is a response to market inefficiency. The BNPL service has taken the path of transparency for the consumer, and this is the key to its popularity. Regulation is mainly stacked against unscrupulous players, but a heavily regulated market will not be effective.

Alexander Skvortsov, Chief Commercial Officer of the BNPL service “Mokka”, highlighted the emergence of new market segments where installment plans have become possible. For example, these services are now used even when buying grocery baskets. He also added that the BNPL niche is where the use of POS can be avioded and where the share of emotional purchases is high.

Continuing the discussion, Ivan Puzhaykin, Deputy Head of Financial Services Legal Support and Regulation at Wildberries, predicted that for marketplaces, it's just the beginning, and this market “is growing and will grow”.

Alexander Dvorsky, Managing Director of Sovcombank, Head of National installment system “Halva”, concluded that BNPL has a very promising future, especially in the online environment.

On the sidelines of the PLUS-Forum, a round table titled “Development of Biometrics in the Context of Federal Law 572” took place. The participants discussed issues of interaction between the state and business for the purpose of developing biometrics in the Russian Federation. The main conclusion: one of the most important tasks of introducing biometrics in the Russian Federation today is the improvement of customer services.

Oleg Evseev, Director of Biometrics Division at Sber, dwelled on the history of implementation of biometrics in Russia and prospects for its development.

Pavel Potanin, Advisor to the Director of Financial Technology Department of the Bank of Russia, clarified that one of the most important tasks of implementing biometrics in the Russian Federation today is improving customer services.

Stanislav Smyshlyaev, CEO of CryptoPro, focused on an extremely relevant topic - the protection of personal data.

Adding to the provided information, Evgeny Ermolenko, Chief Business Development Officer at the Center for Biometric Technology, spoke about the requirements for collecting personal data.

Yuri Shabanov, Deputy Director, Department of Digital Identification Technology Development, Ministry of Digital Development of the Russian Federation, spoke about the problems that arose at the initial stage of the introduction of biometrics.

Evgeny Zaika, Director forf Business Development in the Financial Sector at VisionLabs, spoke in detail about the activities of the company that is a pioneer in this area, and about the practice of implementing new technologies in the financial sector.

Speaking about the prospects for the biometrics development, Maxim Krukelis, Head of Operations and Technology, National Payment Card System (NSPK), recalled the importance of introducing unified biometrics for various services.

Maxim Timonin, Chief Technology Expert, SberTech, and Alexey Gorozhankin, Operations Director, FlexSoft, spoke about their experience of import substitution in the field of banking software solutions at the session “Transformation of banking both in business and in technology. New accents in building business and relationships with the client”.

Alexander Alexandrov, Vice President and Head of the Internet Bank Department at the Corporate Digital Business Division, VTB, assessed the progress of the import substitution program for small and medium businesses.

Vyacheslav Borisyuk, Executive Director for Data Research, Head of AI Development Department, Daily Banking B2C, Sber, analyzed the best business cases involving AI large language models used by banks today in the areas such as credit scoring, ranking and document recognition. He paid special attention to the methods of LLM fine-tuning.

Oleg Gubachev, Head of Automobile Brand Engagement at Rosbank Auto, spoke about a current trend such as the digitalization of the auto loan market. According to the speaker, the share of the top 5 Russian banks in the auto loan segment is growing today.

In turn, Alexey Muntyan, Сo-Founder of the Regional Privacy Professionals Association (RPPA), CEO and Founder of Privacy Advocates, who has 16 years of experience in personal data protection, analyzed the current issues of biometric technology turnover in the Russian Federation so far as it relates to regulation and law enforcement.

Andrey Gamolsky, COO at CP RETAIL, devoted his report to the first results and new features of the online customs payment service. He noted that, according to the Federal Customs Service, foreign economic activity keeps growing, despite changes in the market. At the same time, the share of card payments decreased to 11% in 1H2024 as a result of the exit of large importers. The key element of the new infrastructure was the launch of the Mir customs card, a product of the strategic partnership between NSPK and CP RETAIL LLC.

The final part of the PLUS-Forum 2024 was the joint round table “Security of payments business and cash circulation” devoted to a relevant topic of protection of individuals’ and organizations’ funds against fraudsters’ attacks. Representatives of law enforcement agencies and financial organizations jointly discussed changes in the fight against crime in this area and the impact of the amendments to the legislation.

The session was moderated by Alexey Golenishchev, a recognized expert in security with 20+ years of experience in top commercial banks and in a mega-regulator (issues of anti-fraud and cybersecurity).

Among those speaking at the session was Yulia Menshchikova, colonel of justice, Investigation department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, who discussed changes in the fight against cybercrime after amendments made to the respective laws.

Olga Tushkanova, Head of techno-forensic and expert support for crime investigations at the Main Directorate of Forensic Science, the Investigative Committee of the Russian Federation, noted that while many technical vulnerabilities are gradually being closed, the human factor remains the main weak link: people continue to trust phone calls and other communications initiated by fraudsters.

Alexander Shmelev, Head of the Center for Information Security and Cyber ​​Resilience Monitoring and Analysis, Information Security Department of the Bank of Russia, shared statistical data on thefts or transactions without the client's consent.

Evgeny Tsarev, Managing Director, RTM group, an expert in IT law and cybersecurity, explained how fraudsters work.

Evgeny Vinokurov, Head of Cyber-fraud Prevention at Alfa Bank, spoke about mobile operators as the first line of defense against social engineering.

Pavel Esakov, an independent expert, explained the threat of using DeepFake for remote service channels and why it has begun to outpace classical approaches in attacking biometrics.

Olga Medyanik, PhD in Psychology, Associate Professor at the Risk Management and Insurance Department of the Faculty of Economics at St. Petersburg State University, spoke about the role of social engineering as a tool used in the economic war against the Russian banking sector and citizens.

Increase in crime driven by the growth of non-cash operations is another paradoxical conclusion reached by the round table participants. The experts also concluded that new legislative measures help to combat financial crimes promptly, but there remains a need to further refine legal mechanisms and strengthen customer protection against cyber threats.

The International PLUS-Forum “Payments and Cash Circulation” is one of the largest events in the financial sector of Russia and the CIS as a whole. It is a meeting place for representatives of the banking sector, fintech firms, payment systems, solution providers, market regulators and government bodies, leading Russian and international industry experts.

Click here to learn about the Partners, Sponsors and Media Partners of the International PLUS-Forum “Payments and Cash Circulation”.

The PLUS-Forum platform has been visibly present on the market for 16 years already. During this period, it has rightly won a reputation of a key industry event both in Russia and in other CIS countries. In recent years, the PLUS team has been particularly focused on the markets not only in Russia, but also in neighboring countries, and primarily those in Central Asia. To this end, a series of new events focused on these markets have been organized over the past three years. And they have already managed to declare themselves as the largest and most popular platforms in the region!

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