Russia's Magnit creates division for developing fintech, plans to create fintech products

MOSCOW. Oct 13 (Interfax) - PJSC Magnit has created a separate division for developing fintech - a Financial Technologies business format, the company said.

The head of Magnit's fintech direction, Alexei Kalinogorsky, was made the head of the new division. Kalinogorsky has worked at the company since 2024, and before that held various positions at Gazprombank and the consulting companies McKinsey & Company and Boston Consulting Group.

Magnit has already formed the team of the new division, the company said. In particular, it has created departments for developing transaction products, developing credit products, developing and designing information systems for financial technologies, and a department for financial technology analytics.

Magnit's new division will focus, in particular, on implementing the company's fintech strategy, which provides for the development of a line of financial products and services (including Magnit Pay) and their integration into customer scenarios. It is assumed that implementing these plans will lead to growth of the core business and the creation of new sources of income for the company. However, Magnit did not disclose specific plans for the work of the new division, nor expectations or forecasts for its impact on the company's core business. The company's investment in the development of the fintech direction is also not disclosed.

Magnit is the largest retailer in Russia by number of stores and the second by revenue. The company's revenue amounted to 1.88 trillion rubles in H1 2026, up 12.8%, EBITDA was 96 billion rubles (12.1%), and the net loss was 1.9 billion rubles (compared to 6.5 billion rubles of net profit a year earlier).

The retailer's retail space at the end of H1 reached 11,590 square meters. At the same time, the number of stores increased to 33,650.

Capital expenditures excluding M&A transactions decreased 46.4% in H1 2026 and amounted to 36.6 billion rubles.