Digital challenger bank, Revolut announced its partnership with QIWI Bank to start offering its services in Russia
The news of this partnership comes just after Revolut announced it would be applying for a US banking licence earlier this week. The company is showing no signs of slowing down on its plans to go global.
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QIWI Group has granted the challenger access to its payments infrastructure via open APIs. QIWI APIs provide access to the banking infrastructure of QIWI Bank. That includes access to its banking licences and technologies for customer identification, payment processing, and card issuance.
The partnership makes complete sense; QIWI provides payment solutions that enable customers to make seamless digital or physical payments. Revolut’s focus has always been about developing more innovative and convenient ways for users to handle their money.
The launch will mean that users across Russia will have access to Revolut services. During the initial phase, basic product offering will be available including a mobile app and a multi-currency Visa card that allows customers to make and receive payment. Money and FX transfers in 130 currencies will also be available, as well as cash withdrawals from ATMs around the world.
FX and money transfers, as well as cash withdrawals, will be available at the interbank rate, meaning customers can travel with ease knowing they won’t be bombarded with hidden or high fees.
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By GlobalDataBogdan Uzbekov, head of Revolut in Russia commented: “When we started our expansion, we talked with 30 local banks and non-commercial organisations and decided to partner with QIWI, which offered the best in class technological flexibility, understanding of the regulatory environment as well as fast decision-making. It is also important that QIWI shares our views on the future of the financial sector. Like Revolut, QIWI strives to use technology to make everyday financial services faster, more convenient, more transparent and much cheaper for users.
“Russia is an attractive market for Revolut. We see that there are many users who suffer from expensive and inconvenient financial services, especially currency exchange and outbound money transfers. We are confident that we will surpass the one million users mark in the first two years of operations.”
Andrey Protopopov, head of IT and product of QIWI Group, added: “QIWI is one of the first Russian companies that has implemented a number of APIs that allow the use of QIWI Bank infrastructure as a platform for developing fintech projects.
“Now we are ready to go international with this platform, starting with the partnership with the leading European fintech startup company Revolut. Partnership with QIWI helps Revolut to be in full compliance with the Russian legislation and offers easy integration with the developed payment infrastructure, allowing the project team to focus on attracting new users in Russia and developing new functionality of the application.”
