Business Divisions Review

BANKING CARDS

One of the priority areas for the Bank’s retail business is the issuance of bank cards and the provision of related services. As of January 1, 2022, a total number of all types of plastic bank cards issued reached 1 518 000. The Bank has also seen an annual increase in the number of its payroll customers: over 8 900 payroll programs with over 600 000 active payroll cards as of January 1, 2022.

To ensure compliance with the Federal Law on the National Payment System, the Bank issued more than 153 000 MIR cards in 2021.

RESIDENT ID CARD

Over the recent years Bank “Saint Petersburg” stood as the leading operator of the “Resident ID card” project (EKP). This is a priority project of Saint Petersburg government. The smart-card combines cutting-edge payment tool based on MIR payment system, loyalty program card, and local transport pass. EKP also contains personal data of its holder: photo, date of birth, social system number, including qualified digital signature. The processing employs unique and independent Russian technologies in full compliance with world-class security standards.

MORTGAGE LENDING

The Bank is represented by six Mortgage Lending Centers (four in St. Petersburg, one in Moscow and one in Kaliningrad). Also mortgage lending is available in the Novosibirsk branсh. In the Mortgage Lending Centers customers can get detailed advice on all mortgage lending programs available and obtain an estimated calculation of the amount and maturity, as well as apply for a mortgage loan. A dedicated loan officer supports each customer throughout the entire process. As an additional convenience for the customers and a way to ensure confidentiality, each center has a separate meeting room; the Bank’s outlets also have depository areas for transactions using safe deposit boxes.

The Bank ranks 3rd among all local banks and 1st among private banks in St. Petersburg’s mortgage lending market. Throughout 2020, the Bank provided a total of RUB 37.9 bn in the form of 10 014 loans, compared to RUB 36.1 bn and 11 978 loans in the previous year. 63% of the total mortgage loan portfolio consisted of mortgage loans for newly constructed buildings.

The Bank is continuing its productive cooperation with construction companies and real estate agencies. By the end of 2021, more than 600 developers and over 1 100 construction projects received the Bank’s accreditation. Customers can receive mortgage-related advice and apply for a mortgage loan at the Bank’s representative desks located in the offices of its partner companies.

In 2021 the Bank lowered the interest rate for the “Family mortgage” down to 5%. Other requirements for the program remained unchanged: families with children can apply for the mortgage up to 30 years. Families with a child born between January 1, 2018 and December 31, 2022, may now also apply for the program.

The Bank also offers smart mortgage, including the service of real estate evaluation and online-processing of documents by Rosreestr. It speeds up the process two or three times, while the digital signature for the customer takes only few minutes to prepare.

By the end of December 2021, the Bank opened over 6 300 escrow accounts within real estate transactions under sale and purchase contracts and concession agreements between individuals. Bank Saint Petersburg was one of the first banks in the country to introduce an escrow account system for both mortgage lending and real estate transactions without the Bank’s mortgage. This form of settlement implies placement of the buyer’s cash funds on a special-purpose escrow account opened under a trilateral agreement, and transfer of the transaction amount is made available only after all terms and conditions of the agreement are met.

Also, in 2021, the Bank opened more than 4 000 escrow accounts for the purposes of payments between a participant of share-equity construction, of the one part, and a developer, of the other, under co-investment contracts under Federal Law No. 214-FZ.

The Bank launched a real estate showcase on its website, where developers offer more than 3 000 residential facilities. Almost all of the projects under construction in St. Petersburg, Leningrad Region and Kaliningrad, have been accredited for mortgage loans by the Bank. In addition to residential construction projects, the real estate showcase will help the Bank’s clients to select an apartment on the secondary market from among more than 1.2 mln available options.

The service hosted on dom.bspb.ru is provided by the Bank in cooperation with CIAN, a major online real estate marketplace. The real estate showcase will help you find an apartment for your approved mortgage loan. You can also go the other way round: choose a real estate property and immediately submit a mortgage application. Besides, the website provides you with the point-and-click access to the Bank’s operators and mortgage advisors who can help you navigate through the real estate showcase to make the right choice or advise you on what to do further, how to make an application, what documents you need for making a transaction and getting a loan, and so on.

PROGRAMS FOR THE SELF-EMPLOYED

In 2021, the Bank launched a bunch of products and services for the self-employed — a new customer segment comprised of individuals who earn professional income from activities that have neither an employer nor workers hired under employment contracts, or income from the use of property.

With our services for the self-employed, a client can:

• get registered online on the Government Services Portal for user-friendly registration in the Moi Nalog (My Tax) application of the Federal Tax Service;
• order a card that will best suit them, choosing from our wide range of bank cards;
• use our free courier delivery of cards;
• enjoy up to 20% bonus awards on the YARKO loyalty program for their purchases;
• receive a professional income tax refund through the YARKO loyalty program;
• get an individual consultation to find answers to any question they have or obtain any other relevant information.
• consumer and mortgage lending is available for customers with standard product lines.

CAR LOANS

The Bank is represented by three Car Lending Centers in St. Petersburg and one Car Lending Center in Kaliningrad where customers can get detailed advice on all car lending programs, apply for and receive a loan.

In 2020, the Bank successfully launched a project to develop its car loan business in regions, thus expanding its geography and ramping up its customer base and partner network.

In 2020, the Bank efficiently managed competitive product lines and interest rates, continued to maintain its high-quality car loan portfolio, and built long-term and reliable partnerships with major auto sales centers in St. Petersburg. The main advantages of the Bank’s car loan product line include large loan amounts, the possibility to add insurance premiums and additional services to the loan amount and a down payment starting from 0% (even if additional products are added to the loan amount). Constant efforts to speed up loan application consideration and drafting of loan transactions, to develop remote sales channels, and to keep up with main market trends have also enabled the Bank to gain strong footing in the car loan business.

From 2020 onwards, the Bank offers its clients to carry out a car purchase transaction with a secure payment arrangement using an escrow account.

Where the escrow method is chosen, the car purchase transaction is closed at the Bank. The Bank undertakes drafting a sale and purchase contract, counting and verifying the cash. The money is deposited to an escrow account. The seller and the buyer sign the car purchase contract and the seller hands over the keys and documents to the buyer. The buyer gets the vehicle registered with the Road Police, and only thereafter the Bank transfers the funds to the seller. Thus, such a transaction poses no risk of buying a car that is pledged, stolen or seized by the court. There is no need for the seller to carry cash around, as after the registration of the car, the money is credited to their own account from which it can be withdrawn or transferred to an account with another bank without bank fees.

Starting from 2020, the Bank offers a service for selling vehicles used as collateral for loans. This type of transactions involves assisting individual clients with the sale of a car held as collateral by the Bank, namely the following:

• dealings with the seller (the current borrower of the Bank) and the buyer of the vehicle;
• supporting the release of pledge and transfer of money by the vehicle buyer to repay the existing loan of the vehicle seller using an escrow account;
• making a sale and purchase contract for the vehicle used as collateral in accordance with the applicable laws.

In 2020, the Bank ranked 5th out of 20 among the Best St. Petersburg Banks for Car Lending.

CONSUMER LOANS

Bank Saint Petersburg takes a conservative approach to risk and offers consumer loans only to the existing customer base. The target segment for the unsecured lending program is still represented by the customers holding the Bank’s payroll cards, whose financial position is well known to the Bank. 85% of the unsecured loan portfolio is attributed to payroll cardholders. The Bank also offers loans to customers who have a good profile with the Bank or are employed by reliable partner entities.

This approach has proved to be the most efficient one. First of all, targeted work with customers and forecasting their individual needs warrant a more sizeable response. The second advantage is that the Bank can take a cautious approach to new borrowers and accept only measured risks of the external unsecured lending market, having customers whose financial position it can assess most efficiently.

Bank Saint Petersburg continues to maintain and improve the technology of issuing consumer loans, which significantly saves the customers time, as it implies the full remote receipt of loans. Internet Bank users can not only sign an agreement and receive money into an account through a personal account on a proposal approved by the Bank, but also make an application on their own, and track the course of its consideration.

Bank Saint Petersburg has expanded capabilities of its Time is Money lending product involving deposit secured loans for retail clients. Now, a loan can be issued to any client of the Bank who is willing to put up their valid deposit or promissory note as collateral. So, if a client urgently needs money for any purpose, there is no need to close their term deposit prematurely and thus lose interest on it, but instead they can obtain a loan for the required amount secured by their deposit. What is particularly important about the Time is Money loans is that decisions are made quickly (you can borrow within a day) and the terms are quite simple — all you need is just a couple of documents, including an application, passport, and promissory note to be put up as collateral, if any.

The Bank is in the top 3 of St. Petersburg market leaders in terms of consumer lending, and in the top 10 in terms of credit cards.

2021 was a good year in terms of refinancing loans at Bank Saint Petersburg. The loans refinanced by the Bank allow customers to optimize the debt burden by reducing the amount of monthly payments and reducing the overpayment on loans of other banks.

Improvement efforts in 2021 were focused on scaling unsecured lending which allowed to increase the loan portfolio in low-risk customer segments. The Bank will continue to enlarge the customer base and maximize its potential by improving the quality of customer service.

PAYMENTS AND TRANSFERS

In 2021, the Bank significantly expanded the possibilities for convenient and fast transfer to legal entities and individuals. At the beginning of the year, fast payment in digital channels became available to more than 6.2 thousand organizations in the housing and utilities sector and telecommunications services.

The audience of customers active in digital channels increased by 13% and amounted to 612 000 users in December, while the number of transfers made almost tripled and in December for the first time exceeded 3.1 mln transactions per month.

The number of users of the mobile application grew throughout 2021 at a fast pace and amounted to 548 000 people in December, which is 20% more than the figure as of the year beginning. The number of transfers made by these customers tripled, reaching 2.8 mln operations per month.

LOYALTY PROGRAMS

In 2020, the Bank offered its customers to join three loyalty programs:

• YARKO — emotional and engaging;
• Cashback — for rational customers;
• Travel — for travelers.

In 2020, the YARKO bonus loyalty program celebrated its 6th anniversary and surprised its customers with great gifts from the program’s partners.

The YARKO program is actively contributing to the development of the partner pipeline. 2020 saw the launch of more than 200 new partners, with particular focus being placed on online services and those partners who can offer new opportunities to our cardholders. The program’s catalogue was expanded to include partners such as Yandex.Zapravki, Perekryostok Vprok online hypermarket, and IVI online movie theater. We have also engaged partners sought after by clients, such as the pharmacy chains Ozerki, Pervaya Pomoshch, and Doktor Stoletov.

Strong confidence of YARKO customers is unchanged with their number reaching 852 000 as of January 1, 2021. At the same time, the number of active users of the program has increased by 14% compared to the previous year.

The Bank’s loyalty programs have been highly appreciated by independent experts. The Bank has won three awards in the 7th Annual Loyalty Awards Russia Competition. In 2020, the Competition included 173 projects from 94 companies. The Bank has become the winner in three categories: The Team of the Year, The Best Loyalty Program from Financial Institutes for its YARKO Bonus Program, and the Person of the Year awarded to Yekaterina Zvonova, Director of the Department of Mass Segments, Marketing and Big Data Analytics who heads the YARKO development team.