Expert: the participation of 1C and VK in the Tochki investor consortium is a sign of market consolidation

“This is a strong sign of market consolidation for both the banking sector and ecosystem solutions for businesses. The deal will be beneficial for all its participants,” Sukhachev told RB.RU, commenting on the news of VK’s purchase of a 25% stake in Tochka Bank.

According to the expert, it is expected that thanks to this cooperation VK will gain experience in the development of financial products for Tochka companies, including VK Cloud, VK Mail and VK Pay. In turn, the bank will have access to a wide audience and large volumes of data from the IT company.

1C’s participation in this transaction is aimed at expanding Tochka’s product range through financial technologies, says a Blanca representative. “We estimate that the share of 1C is 25%,” Sukhachev said.

Blanka considers that the investments of VK and 1C in Tochka “correspond to the general trend of formation of large players in the ecosystem.”

“For example, Tinkoff and Rosbank companies plan to merge into a banking group, Sovcombank acquires Home Bank, and we at Blanka use the resources of the MKB group of companies and partners to create B2B2X solutions,” Sukhachev concluded.

• On March 21, VK submitted a report for 2023, in which it announced the purchase of a 25% stake in Tochka Bank in the fourth quarter of 2023 for 11.6 billion rubles.
• Tochka himself added that 1C was also among the bank’s investors, but its stake in the bank was not disclosed, he only clarified that “none of Tochka’s shareholders have a majority stake.”
• In July 2023 it became known that the consortium of investors that would consolidate 100% of the shares of Tochka and all its subsidiaries would include Interros.