This text is an automatic translation from Русский. It was generated by AI and may contain inaccuracies.
Read original →Banks vs. Marketplaces: What's Behind the Conflict
Russia's largest banks are demanding a ban on marketplaces offering discounts for payments made with their own cards. We break down the conflict between Sber, VTB, and platforms like Wildberries and Ozon—what's driving the standoff and how it will affect prices.
AI summary
Russia's largest banks have opposed the practice of marketplaces offering discounts for payments made with their own banks' cards, accusing them of unfair competition. Wildberries and Ozon, which control over 80% of the online retail market, have warned of price increases of 15-20% if restrictions are introduced. The conflict has escalated into a struggle for control over financial flows and the rules of the game in the e-commerce market.
Platforms Move Into Banking
The major marketplaces acquired their own banks at almost the same time. In 2021, Ozon purchased Oney-Bank from Sovcombank, which in February 2022 was mistakenly placed under U.S. sanctions due to its previous ties to Sovcombank. The restrictions were later lifted, but by that point Ozon had already created a new financial institution and merged it with Oney-Bank under the Ozon Bank brand. Wildberries entered the banking market by acquiring Standard-Credit, while Yandex bought the small Akropol bank, later renamed Yandex Bank.
Since then, the marketplaces have been aggressively developing their banking assets: they now offer customers not just payment for purchases through their own services, but full use of their subsidiary banks as financial institutions—with the ability to take out loans, open deposits, and access other banking products.
At the same time, the movement is going in the opposite direction as well—major banks themselves are entering the online retail market. For example, Sber's ecosystem includes Megamarket (formerly Sbermegamarket). Meanwhile, Alfa-Bank and T-Bank are actively developing marketplace functions within their own banking apps: Alfa-Market and Gorod, respectively.
At the Data Fusion conference in April 2025, Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina noted this convergence, emphasizing that banks and marketplaces still can't decide whether they're partners or competitors. But recent events show that this uncertainty has vanished.
Escalating Confrontation
The situation began developing rapidly after speeches by Elvira Nabiullina and Sber CEO German Gref at the "Focus on the Customer" conference on November 18. German Gref stated that, according to Sber's estimates, marketplaces underpaid approximately 1.5 trillion rubles in taxes in 2025, taking advantage of "non-market competitive conditions"—primarily tax breaks compared to traditional retailers. In his view, marketplaces are offering discounts at the expense of Russian citizens, and this practice should stop. For her part, the Central Bank governor emphasized that the price of goods shouldn't depend on the payment method, and that using captive banks to promote sales and discounts indicates "not entirely fair competition."