VTB launches phone number-based transfers to Azerbaijan

MOSCOW. March 18 (Interfax) - VTB has launched phone number-based transfers to Azerbaijan, the Russian bank said.

Retail clients can now instantly send money to Azerbaijan using the recipient's phone number to clients of the subsidiary bank, VTB Azerbaijan.

The transfer is made from a ruble account and the funds will be instantly credited to the recipient's account opened with VTB Azerbaijan in the national currency, Azerbaijani manat. The transfer fee is 0.5% (minimum 30 rubles), and clients can transfer up to 300,000 rubles in one transaction. The service is available to users via internet banking and the VTB Online mobile app for Android smartphones.

"Seventy percent of retail clients choose phone number-based transfers to send money abroad because it is fast and simple. Understanding how much users are interested in this method of transactions, we are expanding our horizons to Azerbaijan," the head of the transfers department at VTB's Retail Transactional Business Division Alexei Khranilov was quoted as saying.

Russians can send phone number-based transfers to Azerbaijan, Armenia, Belarus, China, Tajikistan and Uzbekistan.

In 2024, VTB's retail clients made 2.1 million transfers to friendly countries' currencies, up six-fold compared to 2023. The largest share in terms of volume and number of transactions was held by transfers to Tajikistan, China, Belarus, Uzbekistan, Kyrgyzstan and Kazakhstan.