Supporting small and medium businesses (SMB)Supporting small and medium businesses (SMB)

In 2020, VTB Bank executed 21 thousand loan agreements with 2% per annum worth over RUB 92 billion under the state programme for lending for resumption of activities (Decree of the Government of the Russian Federation No. 696 dated 16 May 2020), supporting over a million jobs.

The state programme for lending for resuming activities was made effective on 1 June 2020 and is aimed at supporting the industries affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. If the number of employees remained over 90%, the loan debt under the programme would be subject to a full write-off. If the number of employees remained over 80%, the Bank reimbursed 50% of the borrower's debt.

The programme is implemented using the Federal Tax Service's digital platform based on blockchain technology, which provides programme participants with access to the necessary information services.

Among the customers supported by VTB Bank: Imperial Porcelain Factory JSC, State Academic Mariinsky Theater, Russian New University ANO VO, Mosigra Empire LLC, Yakitoria and Restostar restaurants, Bashavtotrans GUP, Baucentre Rus LLC, Electrotransport LLC, Ionessi shoe factory and others.

In six months of 2020, a completely new online bank was created from scratch for medium and small business customers on an omni-channel platform with a unique design, a basis for embedding products (some already available to existing customers), a universal marketplace, navigation system, and intelligent assistant, including communication with the customer.

VTB has launched VTB Business Lite, a new mobile bank for remote banking services for entrepreneurs. The bank was named by Markswebb as one of the top 10 banks in 2020, with a customer score of 8 out of 10. VTB Business Lite is available on the App Store, Google Play and AppGallery. The application simplifies day-to-day operations while maintaining extensive functionality. VTB Business Lite provides the ability to issue invoices and make payments in a simplified form to legal entities and individuals or between accounts. For the convenience of customers, the one-off payment limits were increased to RUB 300,000.

VTB expanded its line of settlement services for medium and small businesses and launched a pilot VTB Cash Desk product. The product combines the functions of an online cash desk and acquiring terminal. The compact wireless smart terminal with an integrated barcode scanner accepts bank cards, prints sales receipts and sends data to the Federal Tax Service in real time. The equipment is provided to customers at no extra charge. The cost of connection within the product depends on the selected service plan. By the end of 2020, the service would be available in six Russian cities.

VTB has launched Cifra, a digital accounting service for small and medium businesses. The service helps individual entrepreneurs fully automate accounting and tax records. The service includes the tools necessary for an individual entrepreneur to organize a full-fledged document flow. Cifra supports multi-bank, the user can manage multiple accounts opened in different banks. The service automatically uploads information about transactions, calculates and sends tax and other mandatory payments, forms declarations and other documents. In the live chat customers can get an accountant's advice on any issues related to the financial support of their business. VTB has also recently introduced the possibility for entrepreneurs to receive prompt assistance with legal issues.

VTB has developed VTB Business QR, a mobile app for all medium and small business customers, which allows entrepreneurs to accept QR-code payments through the Faster Payments System with a low fee, without the need for cards or terminals. In order to receive QR-code payments, entrepreneurs should have a current account with VTB Bank and install the VTB Business QR app on their smartphones; no additional equipment is required. Payments can be made instantly, as after registering with the app, users can conduct transactions online. For self-employed individual entrepreneurs, the functionality of the service also allows them to create and send a receipt to the customer, keep records of income from non-cash and cash transactions and create receipts for tax payments.

VTB Factoring has implemented an onboarding system that allows any customer system to be integrated with the GetFinance electronic document flow (EDF) system. The service is designed for representatives of medium and small businesses. The digital onboarding process involves identifying the customer and remotely entering into an online factoring agreement with them, as well as the launch of financing for paperless signing of notifications by debtors using the EDF systems. Thanks to the digitalisation of the remote onboarding process, any customer in the medium or small business segment, regardless of the size of the business or geography, can become a customer of VTB Factoring with only an authenticated electronic signature. This gives the Customer access to financing on competitive terms from VTB Group, as well as allowing them to use effective factoring solutions and technologies.

In 2020, in order to develop the Special Accounts business line, VTB implemented a service that allows the exchange of electronic documents between the customer and the Bank via the remote banking system as part of the procurement of goods/works/services in the format of electronic tenders.

In 2020, the Bank built a target customer pathway for onboarding (reserving and opening of the first and subsequent accounts of new customers) which, thanks to the unification of the Bank's IT landscape, became available to all customers. As part of onboarding, remote reservation of a current account on the Bank's website using minimal customer data was implemented, as well as an opportunity to open a current account for individual entrepreneurs in 20 minutes in the presence of the customer.

Closer to Business an Internet portal created by VTB, is aimed at providing information support to entrepreneurs. In 2020, the number of users on the portal increased 20 times, the number of new users amounted to 50 thousand people. The portal offers free online training from market professionals, a wide range of courses, business cases, webinars, expert articles, and e-library resources. Such activity of entrepreneurs confirms that the Closer to Business platform can act as an assistant and business mentor for both beginners and more experienced entrepreneurs.

In 2020, VTB launched a pilot project with the Moscow State University of Medicine and Dentistry named after A.Evdokimov. The pilot project includes the launch of a biometric and thermometric facial recognition system for students and teachers at the entrance to the university.

The pilot project is implemented jointly with O.Vision, a start-up, a participant of the VTB Accelerator, a Russian developer of contactless biometric devices and a facial recognition system based on computer vision and machine learning technologies.

The new technology is integrated into the building's access control system and solves several problems at once: employee identification through a database and contactless temperature measurement, which has a positive impact on the epidemiological situation in the university.

Based on the results of the project's piloting, it is planned to launch the technology on a broad market. It will enable the development of a convenient and modern ecosystem for participants in campus projects. The service can be integrated not only into the pass system, but also into other systems, such as contactless payment for meals, parking, etc.