Banks vs. Marketplaces: What's Behind the Conflict

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."

Wildberries' press service quickly responded to these statements, criticizing the idea of restricting discounts when paying for goods with cards from subsidiary banks. The company noted that such a ban would hurt millions of shoppers across the country, who would face higher prices, and that the true goal of the banks promoting this initiative is to "use non-market means to restrict the development of marketplace banks."

By November 20, it became known that the heads of Sber, VTB, T-Bank, Alfa-Bank, and Sovcombank had sent a letter to State Duma Chairman Vyacheslav Volodin proposing a ban on marketplaces investing their own funds in product discounts. Under their plan, the exception would only apply to marketplaces' own brands and socially significant categories. Additionally, the banks propose establishing a rule that product prices shouldn't depend on whether payment is made with a marketplace bank card or a third-party credit institution's card. The Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS) also joined the conflict. The agency stated it would conduct additional analysis to determine whether the marketplaces are violating market competition. 

The marketplaces responded quickly. Ozon stated that 85 million shoppers would suffer from the discount ban—primarily in small towns and rural areas. Wildberries warned that prices on the platform could rise 15–20%. In response, the banks issued an additional statement, claiming that their proposal wouldn't reduce the availability of attractive offers, but would instead expand the circle of shoppers who have access to low prices. 

On the morning of November 21, Wildberries founder Tatyana Kim issued a separate statement: according to her, the major banks' initiative would accelerate inflation, and the steps being taken have a single goal—"the cynical destruction of competitors." The marketplaces also received support from businessman Oleg Deripaska, who suggested that instead of confronting the platforms, banks should attract customers by offering discounts on their own banking services. 

What's Behind the Escalating Conflict

So what's behind this fierce standoff between the banking sector and the major online platforms? On one hand, it's about the gradual flow of funds from traditional banks to marketplace banks. Despite the fact that the latter's assets remain modest so far— 0.2% of total banking system assets—their growth rate is impressive: in 2024 they increased fourfold.

Beyond the advantages of using accounts on the platforms themselves, marketplace banks offer other services that are attractive by banking market standards. For instance, the Ozon card provides cashback of up to 25% in rubles for payments outside the marketplace, and savings of up to 30% on goods, tickets, and hotels with "green pricing" on the platform. The bank also offers one of the highest rates on the market for savings accounts—up to 17% for the first two months and then 14.5% when conditions are met. Meanwhile, the Wildberries Bank card offers favorable deposit terms: 16.5% for three months or 14% for a year. By comparison, the average maximum deposit yield among the top 10 banks is around 15% for three months and below 14% for a year.

Against the backdrop of falling key rates, Russians are actively moving funds to banks offering more attractive deposit terms. The offerings from marketplace banks, combined with cashback and platform discounts, encourage customers to use their products specifically. And naturally, this trend is causing concern among traditional banking sector players.

The second factor explaining banks' sharp position is the battle for the online retail market. As noted by Deputy Prime Minister Denis Manturov, online retail accounts for more than 15% of total sales volume, and this figure will continue to grow. Yet by the end of 2024, Megamarket (part of Sber's ecosystem) held only about 1.5% of the market, while Wildberries and Ozon controlled 53% and 30% respectively. Overcoming such a gap through market mechanisms alone is extremely difficult, especially since the key driver of the two leaders' dominance is their aggressive pricing policy. According to retail chains, marketplaces can finance discounts at 30–50% off nominal prices, whereas traditional retailers along with smaller online players cannot withstand such price-cutting.

An additional source for sustaining this strategy comes from the growing commissions and fees charged by marketplaces, which sellers pay. According to data from the Association of E-Commerce Market Participants (AUREC), Ozon sellers hand over up to 60% of their revenue to the platform. While in 2024 the sales commission stood at 9%, in 2025 it has already reached 36%, and sellers fear further tariff increases. The mechanism works as follows: the platform raises commissions, sellers respond by raising prices on their goods to preserve profit margins. The marketplace then applies its own discounts to these inflated prices. As a result, one of the funding sources for such promotions becomes the tightening of terms for partners.

The discount issue had already become a sticking point between retail chains and the major platforms during discussions of the platform economy law. At the time, competitors of Wildberries and Ozon warned that such practices lead to market monopolization, squeezing out competitors, and subsequent price increases. The final version of the law enshrined a compromise of sorts: marketplaces can offer discounts on goods only with the seller's consent. However, this solution did not satisfy Wildberries and Ozon's competitors—the contradictions were not resolved. This eventually led to dissatisfaction not only with the scale of product discounts, but also with additional bonuses when paying with cards from the marketplaces' subsidiary banks.

How the conflict between the major marketplaces and banks will end remains unknown. What is already clear, however, is that the dispute has moved beyond purely industry polemics: this is essentially a battle for control over consumer behavior, financial flows, and the rules of the game in the online retail market.