The Ministry of Finance of Russia began to discuss the privatization of the “national payment card system” (NSPK), which is the operator of the World Maps. This is referring to the sources in the department and market participants, Kommersant writes.
The system has been created since 2014 as a means of protecting the economy from Western sanctions, and in the Ministry of Finance, it is believed that in the current form it is suitable for a successful sale. Currently, only the concept is discussed, no specifications yet.
NPC privatization idea sounded on a closed advisory board on the development of the national payment system in the presence of the Chairman of the Central Bank of Elvira Nabiullina. As stated in the material, the deputy head of the Federal Antimonopoly Service (FAS), Andrei Kashevarov, spoke about it.
Before interdepartmental discussion, the concept did not reach. The Ministry of Finance believes that the best option would be the privatization of 100 percent of the company via the IPO would be. The second method is called the transfer of 50 percent of the Government plus one share so that the rest shares systemically significant participants in the payment market.
NSPK 100 percent belongs to the Central Bank. The company is the operator of the “system of rapid payments” (SBP), all payments of Visa and MasterCard within Russia are passing through it. Her revenue in 2020 according to Russian accounting standards (RAS) increased by 37.5 percent, to 22.23 billion rubles. Net profit amounted to 8.23 billion – it is almost one and a half times higher than a year before.
The Central Bank spoke about the possible privatization of the NSPK at the time of creation, in 2016 even claimed that it would happen next year. However, then the sale of the enterprise was repeatedly transferred, and the specifics did not appear.
In NPC, comment on the information refused, and in the Bank of Russia indicated that there were no changes on the horizon for 3-5 years in the company’s shareline.
Earlier it was reported that the Central Bank began to prepare for the sale of the Bank “Opening”, one of the largest credit organizations of the country. From October 11 to October 22, applications for participation in the auction will be held.