Sberbank and Tinkoff Bank are testing a new joint service of over-the-phone money transfers between cards in what is the first instance of Sberbank letting another bank into its card-to-card transaction system.

Vedomosti reports that both banks make over-the-phone money transfers between cards, but these transactions are possible only within banks’ own networks. Tinkoff Bank allows clients to make transfers to other banks via just the mobile number, but the amount does not settle automatically. The recipient gets an SMS text with a link opening the window where they enter the card number.


“Tinkoff Bank has long wanted to get access to Sberbank’s transaction system. Sberbank is the biggest player in that segment: 65% of the amounts transferred between cards by Russians in 2017 were trasacted with Sberbank cards. The number of their active debit cards reached 102.4 million by the end of 2017,” says Vedomosti.


According to Executive Director of the Russian National Payment Council Association Maria Mikhailova, over-the-phone transfers are a “top trend” and many banks have been negotiating on how to organize the process in Russia. Mastercard launched its own over-the-phone transfers between cards in April and Visa recently announced plans to start offering a similar service.

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