Russian Post has opened the first banking counters of its newly launched postal bank in more than 20 of the country’s regions after announcing the creation of ‘Pochta Bank’ in cooperation with the national bank VTB24 two months ago.
The post offices featuring the first Pochta Bank counters are located in the metropolitan regions of Moscow, St. Petersburg, Kaluga, Orenburg, Penza, Novgorod, Leningrad, Novosibirsk and Chelyabinsk, Krasnodar and Perm territories and a number of others “federal subjects” in Russia.
“One of the main socially significant tasks of Pochta Bank is to increase access to financial services for Russian residents. Another important task is to increase the share of non-cash payments in the economy,” the postal operator stated.
Pochta Bank will be represented in different formats at post offices ranging from selected banking areas with several dedicated counters to the sale of banking products at the universal postal counters.
The postal bank will focus on providing financial services to mass and lower-mass customer segments, online shoppers, as well as a comprehensive service for pensioners, including pension payments. The product line consists of a bank savings account, deposits, cash loans, POS (points of sale) loans, credit cards and other products. The savings account which is the basic bank product is opened at the client’s first visit at the bank, with all further services going through it (including mobile bank). It is planned that clients who will use the banking services for the payments of their salaries and pensions will have preferential conditions including credit products.
This year, around 6,000 Pochta Bank counters are planned to be opened at 3,500 post offices. In addition, 338 customer service centres of the VTB24 subsidiary “Leto Bank” will be rebranded to Pochta Bank branches.
By the end of 2018, Russian Post plans to open more than 20,000 banking counters at 15,000 post offices all over Russia. The rebranding of the Leto Bank regional network which includes, apart from the 338 customer service centres, also 283 stands and over 40,000 POS, will continue.
According to the business plan, sales of Pochta Bank credit products are estimated to generate about RUB 77 billion (€1 billion) in 2016. The loan portfolio for the year is projected to be RUB 126 billion (€1.6 billion) before deducting provisions. The volume of public funds for the year is expected to amount to RUB 24 billion (€31.4 million).
By 2023, the customer base of Pochta Bank is estimated to count about 15 million people, of whom 30% are expected to be pensioners.
"Pochta Bank is a service bank of federal scale. Innovative and technological experience gained previously will be used to work effectively with a wide network of Russian Post branches. Particular emphasis will be placed on remote service channels, including internet and mobile banking, with users receiving access to an expanded product line. Now, we have opened in more than 20 regions of the country and are starting an active network expansion in April. Welcome to the new bank at the post office," Dmitry Rudenko, President and Chairman of Pochta Bank, said.
“The launch of Pochta Bank is a major step in the implementation of Russian Post's development strategy. For us, the bank will be one of the key centres of innovation and product initiatives. Its creation will attract new customers who have not previously used financial services of the post, and offer affordable banking products such as credit, deposit and bank card to the existing customers. Russian Post will also continue to serve the basic financial needs of the population in the non-banking sector: pension payments, invoice payments and money transfer, where the emphasis will be on quality and speed of customer service," Vladimir Salakhutdinov, Deputy Director General of Russian Post, Finances, commented.
The postal operator has 50% minus one share in the postal bank. It has been established on the basis of the VTB24 subsidiary Leto Bank in which Russian Post acquired its nearly 50% share for RUB 5.5 billion (€71.9 million).
