July 1, 2016, Moscow. — The major companies in the Russian financial sector will bring together in the Consortium for a joint exploration and implementation of blockchain technology and its derivatives. QIWI Group, Accenture, BINBANK, MDM Bank, Bank «Otkritie», Tinkoff Bank expressed their intention to join the ranks of the Consortium by signing of a mutual memorandum.

The intention to create in Russia the Consortium was announced on the sidelines of the XXV International Financial Congress, which was held in St. Petersburg from June 29 to July 1, 2016. Central Bank of Russia’s officials invited banks to the broader discussion on crypto technologies development in Russia.

The Consortium for blockchain will represent Russia’s first collaboration platform across innovative and distributed technologies. The activities of the Consortium’s members will focus on the creation and implementation of the most advanced technological solutions in the field of financial services.

The Consortium’s activities spread over technological, regulatory, practical and communicative purposes.

In particular, the members will be engaged in joint development and testing of prototypes, standardization of technology as well as opening the doors for technology for all market participants. In addition, an important part of the Consortium’s activities will be technological harmonization of Russian blockchain movement with the global one, launching an open communicative platform for the market participants and the regulator, raising the level of public knowledge and confidence in the financial services based on blockchain.

Creating and testing the first prototypes are scheduled to begin later this year. In the future, elaboration of legal regulation, the introduction of ultimate financing solutions to the market and global integration will follow.

Oliver Hughes, CEO of Tinkoff Bank, commented: «The blockchain technology has a huge potential to streamline and speed up most of the finance processes, and make those substantially cheaper. We are happy to team up with Russia’s leading financial market players and firmly believe that our joint effort will secure a swifter implementation of blockchain and its applications across financial services to benefit both market players and their customers.»

«Over the past two years, the attention to blockchain and its derivatives has intensified. Blockchain can effectively solve the long-standing technological problems in the financial sector and change all kinds of relationships between market players, — said Sergey Solonin, CEO of QIWI Group. — Creation of consortium in Russia is our response to the rapidly growing interest in innovative technologies that can lead the economy, business and daily life of a person to a completely new level of interaction and confidence. I’m convinced that the Consortium, which brought together the Russia’s largest financial company, is able to become an effective platform for multilateral cooperation in exploration, launching innovations and their implementations in financial services.»

«Blockchain technology promises to largely supplement and probably disrupt ways the financial market is operating today, by enabling new efficient cooperation models for market participants, enhancing accessibility and reliability and driving down costs for financial services consumers». — commented Artem Asanov, managing director of the Accenture Russia financial services practice. — Blockchain potential is unlocked at its best in joint applications among wide groups of market participants. Therefore, we welcome and support the consortium combining efforts of the largest innovative financial institutions in Russia».

«Increased attention for blockchain technology usage in the financial and other sectors, expressed by market participants and regulatory authorities in Russia and around the world, requires consolidated efforts of its study and implementation. I’m sure that creation of the Consortium will consolidate disparate efforts of Russian companies towards research, prototyping and popularization of this technology, as well as accelerate blockchain’s practical application in everyday processes that will improve and facilitate the interaction between the various participants in the market»- said Stanislav Danysh, Managing Director of B&N BANK.

«For Otkritie, participation in the Consortium means a great potential for the development and testing of innovative services, including those based on blockchain. Collaboration with major players in the banking sector and the participation of the regulator will allow us to create and test new approaches, such as joint settlements, simplifying the customer identification procedures», — says Alexey Blagirev, Bank «Otkritie» Director of innovations.

QIWI is a leading provider of next generation payment services in Russia and the CIS. It has an integrated proprietary network that enables payment services across physical, online and mobile channels. It has deployed over 16.1 million virtual wallets, over 167,000 kiosks and terminals, and enabled merchants to accept over RUB 66 billion cash and electronic payments monthly from over 62 million consumers using its network at least once a month. QIWI’s consumers can use cash, stored value and other electronic payment methods to order and pay for goods and services across physical or online environments interchangeably.

Accenture is a leading global professional services company, providing a broad range of services and solutions in strategy, consulting, digital, technology and operations. Combining unmatched experience and specialized skills across more than 40 industries and all business functions-underpinned by the world’s largest delivery network-Accenture works at the intersection of business and technology to help clients improve their performance and create sustainable value for their stakeholders. With approximately 375,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries, Accenture drives innovation to improve the way the world works and lives. Visit us at www.accenture.com.

B&N BANK is one of Russia’s largest privately-owned banks. It has a track record of positive financial results, strong liquidity and healthy capitalization, strengthening market positions and stable, mutually beneficial relations with its corporate and retail clients.
Founded in 1993, B&N BANK offers a wide range of corporate banking services (including lending to large corporate clients & SMEs, payment and account services, international settlements, trade finance and ECA-backed finance, payroll services and leasing), retail banking services (including deposits, credit and debit cards, overdraft facilities, car, consumer and mortgage loans) and financial markets activities.
Khanty-Mansiysk Otkritie Bank is one of Russia’s largest full-service retail banks, ranking by assets among TOP-15 financial lending institutions of the country.
The Bank focuses on retail and small business clients.
Khanty-Mansiysk Otkritie Bank is double-branded: it continues as the Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk in the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous District where the brand awareness is high and operates as Otkritie Bank across the rest of Russia.
In November 2014, Otkritie Group completed the reorganisation of its retail banking business as Otkritie Bank and the Novosibirsk Municipal Bank were merged into the Bank of Khanty-Mansiysk. The reorganized bank was renamed Khanty-Mansiysk Otkritie Bank.