Bank of Russia approves rates for product and service payments through Faster Payments System
The Bank of Russia Board of Directors has approved the maximum fees that may be collected by banks from trade and service companies for product and service payments made through the Faster Payments System (FPS). The fees will range from 0% to 0.7% of payment amounts and will depend on a company’s activity type.
No fees will be charged for payments made to the state budget, such as fines, taxes, fees, etc. The rate for most frequent payments, including for consumer goods, healthcare and educational services, has been established at the level of 0.4%. For all other categories, it will be 0.7%.
In addition, no fee will be collected from individuals making payments for any products and (or) services through the FPS.
The fees will become effective on 1 October 2019.
“The launch of product and service payments through the Faster Payments System is an important stage of the evolution of the FPS. Firstly, it gives individuals another convenient and accessible tool to pay for products and services. Secondly, this will promote growth in cashless payments”, said Olga Skorobogatova, First Deputy Governor of the Bank of Russia. “In addition, this tool will help trade companies to reduce costs and offer new loyalty programmes to their clients. We can see that both banks and retail chains are interested in this mechanism. Moreover, some large retailers have already declared that they are launching pilot projects and marketing campaigns aimed at boosting product payments through the FPS. The implementation of modern cashless payment systems is an integral part of the development of innovative services and expansion of the range of convenient payment services for consumers.”
The Board of Directors has also decided to decrease the lower limit of the Bank of Russia's fees collected from FPS participants for transactions in the system from 50 to 5 kopecks. This was approved because there is a high demand among individuals for transfers of small amounts and it will be a measure to encourage banks to promote the FPS. These fees will become effective on 1 January 2020. The Bank of Russia has established a grace period through 31 December 2019 and will not collect any fees from participating banks for payments through the FPS until then.