New Zealand sanctions against Russia, two more businessmen refused Russian passports: the main thing on February 29

World

• New Zealand has introduced a new package of sanctions against Russia; The list includes 43 individuals and 16 legal entities. In particular, it included top managers of VTB Bank, Sberbank and Gazprombank.

• The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has begun reviewing OpenAI over potential investor deception. According to sources, the regulator is studying internal correspondence between CEO Sam Altman and other senior managers.

Russia

• On February 29, Vladimir Putin addressed the Federal Assembly with his annual message: he announced a new national project, the end of the moratorium on business inspections and more. We have compiled the most important things for business.
• The Ministry of Finance supported the idea of ​​​​using cryptocurrencies mined in Russia for foreign trade payments. A mining bill containing this proposal could be approved in the current parliamentary session.

Finance

• The DIA announced the start of payment of insurance compensation to Qiwi Bank depositors on February 29. Investors will receive it through Uralsib Bank. On February 21, Qiwi Bank lost its Central Bank license.
• Tinkoff launched yuan exchange at ATMs in Moscow, St. Petersburg, Volgograd, Irkutsk and Sochi. Chinese currency purchase transactions are not subject to monthly cash withdrawal restrictions.

• Since March 1, the Moscow Stock Exchange allowed trading of Mosgorlombard shares in an additional evening session, which runs from 19:00 to 23:50. The day before, the company approved measures aimed at keeping the share price at a level no lower than the IPO price.

• The Central Bank recommended banks minimize participation in the circulation of digital currencies. Transactions with these instruments carry risks for the well-being of citizens, the Bank of Russia noted. Currently, 12 banks are already participating in the digital ruble pilot.

Business

• Major footwear retailer Munz Group could launch a line of body care cosmetics under the Salamander brand.
• The founders of American IT companies Veeam Software and Object First, Andrei Baronov and Ratmir Timashev, renounced Russian citizenship.
• Advertising market participants and blogging agencies believe that the new law prohibiting advertising by foreign agents will reduce their income by 50% to 80%, but only for six months, Kommersant reported.

• Viola filed a lawsuit against the FAS for its refusal to open a case against its competitor Khladokombinat Partner. The manufacturer believes that the company uses identical elements in the yogurt containers. The Amur OFAS conducted a survey on its Telegram channel with 124 subscribers, most users did not find similarities.

• VTB received a notification from its German subsidiary OWH SE (formerly VTB Bank Europe). about plans to deprive the organization of the right to own the structure. The structure also requires the return of 2013 dividends (more than 433.8 million euros) before February 29. VTB called the decision politically motivated and promised a symmetrical response.

• Samokat, Vkusville and Sbermarket became leaders in sales growth in the e-groceries market. The total turnover of these sites exceeded 560 billion rubles in 2023

Services and media

• Odnoklassniki has integrated the VK ORD mini-application into the social network, which will allow bloggers and media outlets to seamlessly add a token and tag to posts to comply with the requirements of the advertising law.
• At the end of 2023, the number of offers for professional equipment and products for businesses on Avito increased fourfold compared to the previous year. The most important subcategories in terms of supply volume on the site were industrial and food equipment.
• Adobe introduced “Photoshop” for music editing. The tool is capable of generating a musical sequence based on a text description and allows you to edit the fragments created within the application.
• Owners of Xiaomi smartphones reported malfunctions of their devices. Problems arose after updating the operating system: the phones themselves rebooted and went into recovery mode.