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MOSCOW, April 2. Russian banks are not yet ready to abandon the use of plastic cards and payment stickers in favor of digital cards, credit institutions said.
sent a request to systemically important banks and several of the largest credit institutions not included in them.
The VTB press service said that in 2023 the bank issued more than 15 million cards, of which more than 3 million were digital cards. This year the bank has already issued 3.4 million of both plastic and digital cards. “Often, users still choose classic cards, so we do not plan to completely switch to digital analogues in the near future,” added the VTB press service.
Director of retail products at Dom.RF Bank Daria Morozova said that the volume of plastic cards issued in their bank does not decrease from year to year and they do not plan to stop issuing them, since not all clients are completely ready to give up their usual plastic, but at the same time it has increased customer interest in payment stickers. Sovcombank also does not plan to abandon the issuance of plastic in 2024; last year the bank issued five million cards, noted managing director of the bank Anna Kambulova.
The PSB press service stated that in 2023 the bank increased the volume of plastic cards issued by 1.5 times, which was primarily due to the growth of its client base, including in new regions of Russia. The bank notes an increase in the share of citizens who choose digital cards, despite the fact that the majority of clients still prefer cards on plastic media; interest in payment stickers has also increased.
«A massive transition of the population to electronic payment instruments is possible in the medium term, the Russian payment industry needs to improve its infrastructure; changing the payment habits of Russians will also require some time,” the PSB press service added.
Pochta Bank, which has been issuing 2 million cards annually for the past two years, believes that a mass transition to electronic analogues will not happen in the near future. As the bank notes, Russians are more accustomed and comfortable to holding “plastic”; its use is more reliable in everyday life.
Earlier in March, the Russian environmental operator (REO) proposed reducing plastic waste in Russia, including by encouraging companies to implement information solutions that allow you to abandon the use of plastic bonus cards and paper cash receipts.