“The purpose of western countries was to offend every Russian”

– Garegin Ashotovich, we are meeting at a difficult time. How do you think banks and Russians are dealing with Western sanctions and restrictions? What should they be prepared for in the near future? What are the main challenges that bank customers are currently facing?

Banks are in a very difficult situation. Maybe later it will be even more difficult. But even today, Russian credit institutions have problems with both payments and payments.

Customers also face challenges. For example, remote payment for a ticket in a foreign currency using a card has become almost impossible. You can simply come to the airline’s office and buy tickets. This results in a double conversion.

If the customer is abroad, he is likely to purchase plane tickets in cash.

But how much cash do you need to buy a return ticket in 2-3 transfers and fly to Moscow? It is also possible for force majeure to occur after the payment of the hotel cost and ticket. So what? The client cannot have more than $10,000 on hand when he leaves. Banks cannot help with this.

But if you go nowhere and do nothing, of course, there will be no problems.

The unease that the Russians have now put sanctions on Western countries in the first place. For everyone to feel this discomfort. So the inconvenience was great.
This can happen in extreme cases, for example, when Russia disconnects from Google or the Internet in general.

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one hundred%

Garegin Ashotovich Tosunyan – President of the Russian Banks Association

ARB’s press service

Any chance of this happening?

I hope not, but there is a risk.

The fate of the banking practices of credit institutions that have entered into sanctions is not yet clear. The question is whether to update or not.

There was a shortage of plastic and chips for cards. Therefore, banks have greatly expanded their validity, making it indefinite.

— Have all banks introduced such a support measure?

Almost everything as far as I know.

— Despite some drop in inflation, it is difficult for the Russians to cope with the rising costs. Will banks lower loan interest rates to ease the burden on borrowers? How much can consumer loan and mortgage interest rates be lowered?

— Consumer loan and mortgage rates soared above 30% after the key rate jumped sharply to 20% YoY in February.
Banks did not try to lend, people stopped taking loans at these rates. Therefore, the credit market actually froze in March.
New loans were practically not issued. 10-15% of loans were given to bona fide borrowers at predetermined rates. But overall, exports fell significantly. In April, the market started to recover with the key rate lowering and the trend continued in May.
Now the key rate is 9.5% per annum.

Therefore, within two or three months, consumer loan and mortgage interest rates should return to levels close to pre-crisis levels – 15% and 10% annually, respectively. In addition, within the framework of housing loans, there are many preferential programs with an annual interest rate of around 6%.

– Can preferential mortgage rates fall to very low values ​​such as 2-3% per annum?

— Rates in preferred programs may be zero. The state will undertake the full compensation of the rate. However, these rates are highly unlikely.

— How will banks maintain attractive conditions for deposits in the face of a drop in the key interest rate?

— After reducing the key rate to 9.5% per annum in June, banks offer the same rate for deposits, plus or minus – from 9% to 10.5% per year.
In this sense, credit institutions acted very wisely, because now one of the main channels of withdrawal is citizens’ deposits.
And people sitting on the currency in the fund, where deposit interest rates are high, began to get rid of it.
They began to change the currency to rubles and open deposits in rubles at higher rates.

How many customers have done this?

— A number of customers exchanged currency for 100 rubles at the peak of the dollar. They realized that such an exchange rate of the American currency would not last long, and they decided to get out of it.
Perhaps an insider could be suspected. Because they got a pretty good win.
Of course, few thought of exiting the currency when the dollar was worth 100 rubles and opening an annual 20% deposit in March.

Will banks be able to create an analog of Apple Pay and Google Pay? How and when?

– You can create an analogue of Apple Pay and Google Pay. However, they are unlikely to be full-fledged equivalents of services leaving Russia.
The meaning of these services is broad. Existing services are currently unable to provide this.

— In which countries should Mir cards be accepted in the near future?

– On the territory of all post-Soviet countries and in the countries of the Middle East. Now Mir cards are accepted in Russia and countries such as the Republic of Armenia, Abkhazia, South Ossetia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Turkey.
In order to pay with Mir card, you must have a plastic carrier or a mobile device with contactless payment.
Now we need to ensure the acceptance of Mir cards wherever possible.

— Under what conditions can Visa and MasterCard return to Russia?

— When Visa and MasterCard blocked their cards in 2014 and after apologizing two days later they unblocked them, I was sure that would never happen again.
But died. Presumably, they may return once humanity “overcomes the growing pains” – in the continuing transition from globalism to separatism.
I’m sure everything will be alright. But personally, I will treat the cards of these payment systems without respect.
And I will most likely choose a system board that behaves more responsibly.

— How do you evaluate the attempt of some banks to charge commissions for servicing foreign currency accounts of citizens?

– Absolutely negative. This is fundamentally wrong, it is a loss of reputation for banks.
Especially when it comes to previously opened accounts. This is inappropriate and completely unacceptable.

— How do you evaluate the Central Bank’s reaction to this arbitrariness?

The regulator should ban this practice. Otherwise, it could be a serious legal challenge.

— What do you think of Tinkoff’s new terms for SWIFT transfers? Specifically, about a commission of at least $200 for an incoming transfer?

– Also negative. I don’t understand the meaning of the entrance fee. This will negatively affect the future image of the bank.

— What do you think of the news about the actual negative rates on foreign currency deposits for corporate clients?

“As in the case of the citizens. But there are banks that will never allow this. Sure.

– After February 24, cooperation between Russian banks and Western banks was practically in vain. Could Asian financial institutions be an acceptable alternative?

— Asia has long been a good partner and counterparty for us. But there is no need to oppose Asia against Europe and Europe against Asia. Asia itself works with Europe. If you completely forget about Europe, you have to go to the Moon, Mars or Venus.

If he does, there will be problems there too. Organizations in Asia will not cut off their relations with the world financial market on behalf of Russia.

– Which currency do you find the most promising?

There should not be a dominant single currency in the world. When the euro was introduced, I strongly welcomed this important step to overcome the monopoly of the dollar.
There should be many world currencies – yuan, euro, ruble, dollar, Japanese yen, others – and should be approximately equivalent. You should not choose any of these.