Sovcombank bought the fintech business of the closed Rocketbank – Kommersant

In February this year, the Bank of Russia revoked Qiwi Bank’s banking license, citing the company’s involvement in high-risk transactions and violations of anti-money laundering legislation. In 2023, Qiwi Bank’s assets amounted to 75 billion rubles. The Rocket platform operated with its license before the Central Bank’s decision.

According to the newspaper’s interlocutors, the deal included the Rocketbank brand and its team, and it is likely that the client base will need to be restored. A Kommersant source estimated the investments needed to restart the project (advertising, salaries and technology expenses) at between 1 billion and 3 billion rubles, and the amount of the agreement between Sovcombank and Qiwi at $1 million.

Rocketbank had a good positioning, brand and image, so it would be better for Sovcombank to relaunch the project without merging with the main structure of the bank to capture the uncovered layer of the client base, said Pavel Samiev, CEO of Businessdrome. he told the newspaper. Kommersant’s sources do not exclude that initially the updated project works under the license of the parent company, but in the future it may receive its own license.

Rocketbank was launched in 2013 with a license from Interkommerts bank. In 2015, after its withdrawal, Rocketbank was transferred to Otkritie Bank for 300 million rubles, and in 2017, together with Tochka, it became the property of the Qiwi financial group for 700 million rubles. However, the bank turned out to be “incompatible” with the group’s business strategy, after which its activities were ultimately restricted in 2021.