T-Bank CEO speaks out on the payments market monopoly debate

T-Bank is in favor of ensuring equal conditions in the payment market and preventing monopoly, in particular in the issue of a single QR code. Such a statement was made by the head of the bank Stanislav Bliznyuk after the head of Sber German Gref criticized the Central Bank's initiative to create a "single state QR code".

According to Bliznyuk, the current discussion is built around one question: will there be one player or several? "We are in favor of there being several. Monopoly is not the way of development, especially if it is a state monopoly. In a state monopoly, it is difficult to keep yourself up to date in order to develop a quality product. And, probably, if at first the unified state QR code will not fail, then on some long horizon we all as consumers will feel the lack of attention, because why should we develop something, if everybody takes it and everything works as it is", - said Bliznyuk to journalists at the Open Doors Day of the Central University.

"The whole market is organized in such a way that the client is the main one on the market. And what is important to the client? The first thing is convenience. Now it is discussed that there will be a lot of QR codes. There is a technological solution when the same QR code will be used by different platforms. There are such examples abroad. That is there is convenience for the client", - noted Bliznyuk.

The second thing that the client needs, he continued, is a quality product, and it can appear only in a competitive environment. "Therefore, building some kind of second entity - an association of banks, in order to create alternatives to SBP - is the right approach. We fully support it in this part. Many market players are already connected to the technological solution offered by banks, and this automatically nurtures competition," emphasized the head of T-Bank.

At the beginning of December the banking community again started to actively discuss the topic of creating a single QR code, which is now being implemented by the National Payment Card System (NPCS) and the association of banks, which includes Sber, Alfa and T-Bank. At the Investor Day Gref called the actions of the Central Bank, which proposes to legislate the norm on payment for purchases by means of universal QR, a threat to the country. At the same time, the Bank of Russia believes that it is important to develop a common "payment standard", and its monopolization at the level of individual players "will lead to serious distortions in the market".