Cancellation of fines for devices without Russian applications, growth in demand for shockproof smartphones: the main thing August 8

Russia

• The Ministry of Digital Development proposed to cancel fines for the sale of devices without Russian applications by the end of the year. The market offers to completely abandon the pre-installation of mandatory programs.
• In the fall, authorities will resume discussions on a bill to block commercial property during inspections. It was decided not to consider the document in the spring, but it remains on the agenda.
• The Ministry of Agriculture is preparing a concept to create a national distributor of agricultural products in Asia, the Middle East and Africa. The objective is to combine products from manufacturers and optimize logistics.

Stock market and banks

• Private investors appealed to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation with a request not to impose restrictions on trading in securities of foreign companies. The Russians want to continue trading shares of Zoom, Intel, Amazon, Netflix and others.

• The percentage of loans approved by banks increased this summer and exceeded the figure recorded before the start of the special operation in Ukraine. Analysts reported that by August 1, one in three loan applications had been approved.

Business

• The owner of “L’Etoile” completely redeemed the “Podruzhka” cosmetic network. Podruzhka’s leadership will also change: Stanislav Melinger, a former top manager at jewelry maker Adamas, will become the new CEO.

• Wildberries will launch a service to protect copyright owners and buyers from counterfeiting in August. Rights holders in case of suspected violations will be able to make appeals and independently verify the seller’s documents. If the violations are confirmed, the site will hide the products from the online store. In case of repeated violations, the cooperation with said seller will be terminated.

• Commercial real estate investment platform SimpleEstate has raised RUB 30 million from the private fund AYR Capital in exchange for a 13% stake in the project. The valuation of the company at the end of the round amounted to 230 million rubles.

• ANO Tsifrovaya ekonomika, Yandex, Sberbank, the Skolkovo Foundation and Avito opposed the creation of a single advertising operator. The market considers that this goes beyond the legal regulation of the law “On Advertising”, it represents a threat of creating a monopoly and spreading false information on the Internet in violation of the law.

• There is a growing demand for shock and water resistant smartphones. It is due to the desire of consumers in the context of falling income to buy a device with a longer lifespan.

Services and means

• The daily Russian audience of social networks Facebook and Instagram, recognized as extremist and banned in Russia, decreased from January to July 2022 by eight and almost four times, respectively. Telegram has benefited the most from blocking foreign networks.