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5-7 players to divide up Russian financial market in 3-5 years, Alfa-Bank CEO says

Alfa-Bank will be among leaders and will strengthen its positions, CEO of Alfa-Bank Vladimir Verkhoshinsky noted

ST. PETERSBURG, June 5. /TASS/. The Russian financial market will be divided among 5-7 players in 3-5 years, CEO of Alfa-Bank Vladimir Verkhoshinsky told TASS in an interview on Friday at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum.

"One more recent global trend leading us to a new strategy is the ‘growth game’ or oligopolization. Look at the largest bank, for example, in the retail banking business. The list of leaders changed by two-thirds over the last decade, if we do not take Sber and VTB into account. While the top ten players accounted for 50% of the market earlier, the figure is 70% now. This trend is speeding up. The strongest ones grow on account of the weak ones. I believe 5-7 players will share the market in Russia in 3-5 years," the banker said.

Alfa-Bank will be among leaders and will strengthen its positions, the top manager noted. "M&A is not needed for that. Digital channels make very simple the migration of clients from bank to bank, from service to service very simple," Verkhoshinsky said.

The ecosystem notion has become obsolete in a certain sense, the banker said. "SuperApp is a more accurate term for me. This is an application containing all different kinds of services, financial, nonfinancial, big and small. Alfa-Bank is going down the route of building exactly a financial super service," he added.

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