Russians paid for purchases worth 2.6 trillion rubles using QR codes and biometric data for three quarters

Russians used QR codes to pay for 1.5 billion purchases and biometric data to pay for 16.2 million purchases between January and September, the Central Bank of the Russian Federation estimated.

The largest number of purchases with QR codes was made in the third quarter – almost 600 million for 1 trillion rubles. The number of purchases paid for using biometric data in July-September amounted to 7.9 million for 4.1 billion rubles.

For comparison, using Internet banking and mobile banking, 13 billion purchases worth 906 trillion rubles were paid in 9 months.

In Russia, the popularity of QR code payments has increased since Apple Pay and Google Pay stopped working in 2022.

In October, the Central Bank allowed the introduction of new rates for stores when paying for purchases using biometrics (bioacquiring).

Now sellers pay on average a commission of 1.5-2.5% of the cost of the goods when paying by bank card, the commission when paying through the Fast Payment System (FPS) or using a QR code is 0 .4-0.7% of the purchase amount. The commission for bioacquisition is equal to the commission for payment via SBP and by QR code.

Sberbank has massively introduced bioprocurement technology; The credit institution already has 850 thousand terminals with biometric payment, and by the end of the year its number may increase to 1 million.

Alfa Bank previously presented its biometric terminal.