OREANDA-NEWS  Russian banks are launching their services in Telegram and gradually expanding their capabilities, however, some players are not in a hurry to go out with banking in this messenger yet and intend to first study the market experience and user interest, credit organizations told RIA Novosti. 

VTB announced earlier on Thursday that it is launching an online bank in the Telegram messenger, at the initial stage it will be available to view the balance on cards and accounts, transfers via SBP and payment for mobile communications. Then they will implement payment by QR code, viewing transaction history, transfers between their accounts and to their cards in other banks and other functions. By the end of the year, all everyday banking services and the release of some digital products will be available. Alfa-Bank said that they have been working with Telegram since 2020, and at the end of 2022 they have already announced a banking project in it. First of all, the most popular option was launched – notifications about expenses and receipts from the bank in Telegram. Now the option can be enabled via the mobile app. "We are already testing transfers and viewing details and balances," the credit institution said. Promsvyazbank (PSB) launched a business assistant for entrepreneurs in Telegram in 2021, it has such functions as invoicing, payment by QR code, file or photo, the possibility of payments to the budget, repeating payments from history, making a pre-approved loan, searching for the nearest office and ATM, and others.

"We continue to expand the functionality of the business assistant - in the near future it is expected to launch payments using templates and free details," said Alexander Chernoshchekin, head of the bank's digital business unit.
At the same time, Uralsib Bank and Rosbank said that at the moment they do not plan to launch a full-fledged online bank in Telegram. "We want to carefully study the market experience and customer needs in this direction. Based on this, we will make decisions," the press service of Rosbank noted.