The pandemic gave an impetus to the development and promotion of digital cards by banks, the top 50 credit institutions told Izvestia. They noted a significant increase in their emissions in 2020 and early this year.
An increase in the share of such instruments in their portfolio is recorded in VTB, RSHB, Gazprombank, Rosbank, MKB, MTS Bank, Dom.rf, Raiffeisen, Otkritie, Home Credit and St. Petersburg. A high demand for an alternative to “plastic” is also observed in organizations that began to promote them only in 2021 – PSB and Absolut Bank.
In the Central Bank, the growth in popularity of this type of means of payment was explained by a pandemic. The regulator noted that in statistics, data on digital means of payment without a physical medium are not highlighted. As of January of this year, banks have issued almost 306 million settlement and credit media.
Banks expect further growth in demand for digital cards. So, by the end of the year, a number of them plan to increase their share to 30-40%, and on the horizon of two to five years to 40-50%. According to analysts, the issue of digital cards will save banks more than 54 billion rubles, the NRA estimated. It is noted that the costs will decrease gradually as new means of payment are issued and the existing ones are reissued.
Meanwhile, experts warn that against the background of banks saving on plastic, Russians should not expect a decrease in interest rates on loans or their other products and services. Also, the transition to digital cards does not remove the issue of security and data protection from the agenda.
Read more in the exclusive material from Izvestia:
Sustainable issue: issuing digital cards will save banks up to 54 billion rubles