Microsoft allowed Russians to download Windows, cashback for purchases through SBP: the main thing on December 28

World

• Members and staff of the US House of Representatives have been banned from using TikTok. The Cybersecurity Authority considers the TikTok mobile app dangerous for users due to a number of security threats.

Russia

• The Ministry of Finance did not approve the allocation of funds from the budget for the Rostelecom project to create a national mobile ecosystem based on Aurora OS. Previously, the company requested 480 billion rubles for its implementation. The Ministry of Digital Development, for its part, included the project in the “road map” of the “New General System Software”.
• The head of the Ministry of Digital Development, Maksut Shadayev, spoke out against the ban on leaving the country for IT specialists. The corresponding proposal was voiced today by an expert in the State Duma, calling “IT specialists” a reserve of Russia’s strategic personnel.

Finance

• Russian banks have introduced the refund of purchases using QR codes through the Fast Payment System (FPS). The amount of remuneration varies from 1% to 10%.
• In early December, Sberbank began testing a new contactless payment tool – a payment tag. As planned, the sticker can be attached to the smartphone “and pay with the usual touch”.
• Sberbank has been testing a payment tag since the beginning of December. It is still unknown when the tool will be available to customers.
• Individual investment account holders will retain the right to receive a tax deduction when transferring foreign securities between brokers. The corresponding law entered into force today, December 28.
• The presence of licenses from the ministries of Belgium and Luxembourg to unfreeze the assets of Russian investors blocked in international deposits does not guarantee the very fact of unfreezing them and obtaining the right to dispose of these assets. The Bank of Russia warned about this, citing the fact that the departments gave too little time to carry out all the necessary procedures for unlocking.

Deal

• Microsoft allowed Russians to download Windows operating systems after the September ban. The software page on the site reloads without VPN.
• One of the oldest sellers of Swiss watches and jewelry could leave the Russian market. The structures of the “Consul” network are threatened with bankruptcy according to the statements of Sberbank.
• Used cars in the Russian Federation in 2022 increased in price by more than a third; half of this price increase occurred in the spring, when deliveries and production of new cars in the Russian Federation were suspended.
• The Russian bank HKF has completely withdrawn from the shareholders of the Kazakh Home Credit Bank, having sold the remaining 25% of the shares after the previous transaction.
• The main franchisee of the Domino’s Pizza chain of pizzerias is considering options to sell its business in the Russian Federation. Currently, DP Eurasia NV is evaluating the impact of the sanctions on its activities in the country and admits its withdrawal from the market.
• VK intends to increase investments in cybersecurity by 2.5 times next year, as well as increase the staff of IT specialists responsible for this segment. This year, the company repelled all cyber attacks on its services: the RuStore application store was the most massive.

Transportation

• The cost of tickets in Russia in 2023 will increase at least by the level of inflation, said the head of Aeroflot Sergei Aleksandrovsky.