Tinkoff Bank might merge with Yandex, the bank’s founder Oleg Tinkov said during the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

“If the bank could afford it, I wouldn’t think twice. Although, our capitalization is growing, so we can consider the purchase in three years. At the moment we can talk about a merger. It’s a curious idea, and it would be good for our companies and our country,” said Tinkov.

“There is no other way for Yandex. A company like Yandex has to include a bank. They have several options. One is creating their own bank and another is joining forces with some other player, if Yandex wants to be an efficient, customer-oriented ecosystem,” he added.


Banki.ru reports that the talk of the possible merger came up during the discussion about ecosystems.

“The success of Chinese ecosystems is based on the fact that each of them has a bank in its core. No one can buy products and services without paying for them. It is natural for an ecosystem to include a bank. As for Yandex, the question is: is it with Tinkoff or Sberbank?” noted Tinkov.

“We are considering different directions of development. We hold discussions on that topic every day,” said Yandex CEO Arkady Volozh, when asked to comment on Oleg Tinkov’s remarks about merger.

The partner of Fintech section is