Banks stopped paying Mir, markets were forced to label products – the main thing for August 5

Russia

• Putin banned until December 31 transactions with shares of several Russian legal entities belonging to foreign investors from “enemy” countries. This applies to strategic companies, equipment manufacturers and service companies for the fuel and energy complex, as well as banks.

• The Ministry of Economic Development expects an increase in unemployment in Russia in the fall.

• Employees of IT companies excluded from the state registry will retain a preferential mortgage rate, but for this they do not need to change jobs or search for a new employer only from the IT registry.
• FAS requested an extension of the term to elaborate reforms to the law of sole digital advertising operator. The St. Petersburg government, following Moscow, proposes not to accept it at all.

Banks and finance

• Investment company BlackRock will close its Russian stock exchange-traded fund Russia ETF. Liquidation of the fund will begin on August 17.

• The Mir card operator stopped paying banks for its promotion; after the departure of Visa and Mastercard, the competition for a customer in the market disappeared. Now the banks will have to carry out marketing campaigns at their expense.

• The Central Bank of the Russian Federation intends to launch a pilot project on Islamic banking in Chechnya and Dagestan in 2023. According to Islamic law, lending money at interest is prohibited, so banks cannot provide Islamic banking services. Non-credit financial institutions of a new type, associated financial organizations, will be able to participate in Islamic banking.

Business

• Dodo Brands founder Fedor Ovchinnikov sold his stake in Dodo Pizza UK to a senior manager of the company. The company sold the business in the United Kingdom, unable to develop it after the start of a special operation in Ukraine due to problems with financing from Russia.

• IKEA, as part of an online sale, has expanded its delivery zone in Russia to ten more cities where it does not have stores: Volgograd, Voronezh, Penza, Perm, Saratov, Sochi, Tolyatti, Tyumen, Ulyanovsk and Chelyabinsk.

• British startup Arrival has suspended work on the electric bus and electric car, the Financial Times has found. The company is going to reduce costs by a third and will focus on the production of an electric van to start generating income. Arrival was founded by former head of mobile operator Yota and former Russian Deputy Communications Minister Denis Sverdlov. Since the beginning of Russia’s special military operation in Ukraine, Sverdlov has lost his status as a dollar billionaire.

• Markets will have to start labeling products from next year. This can lead to an increase in the price of goods on the sites.
• 97% of Russian micro-enterprises will not switch to a new special tax regime – the automated simplified tax system (AUTS), which will work in Russia from January 1, 2023.