VTB to start actively developing products for mass segment in 2024, will include it in strategy

MOSCOW. April 26 (Interfax) - VTB , which has positioned itself as a bank for the "middle class" for years, will begin to actively offer products for mass segment customers in 2024, as it aims in the future to increase its market share from 7% to 25%, deputy chairman Anatoly Pechatnikov told reporters.

The bank last week began issuing consumer loans in amounts from 5,000 to 30,000 rubles.

"In 2024, VTB will start actively working with the mass segment, significantly strengthening its position there. Now is the time to prepare. We are launching new lending formats (small-amount loans), targeted programs for families with children and for pensioners. We will develop buy-now-pay-later installment plans, payday loans, and savings products for the mass segment. We see serious growth potential in this area, as in the wealthy segment, our market share in terms active clients among the banked population is already more than 30%, so objectively, there is a limit to growth," Pechatnikov explained.

The bank sees great prospects in working with clients from the mass segment, whose income does not exceed 40,000 rubles per month.

"VTB potentially covers more than 50 million of the banked population of Russia, mainly in cities with populations over 100,000 people. We are less represented in other localities, so our market share in the mass segment is now about 7%. This is below our fair share of the 25% we want to achieve," the manager said.

"Today we are testing demand and preparing to systematically present our offers and services for the mass segment, taking into account all VTB Group banks starting in 2024. This will be provided for in the group's new strategy; we will evaluate how many years we can increase this share, taking into account all the group's banks, primarily RNKB and Otkritie, he added.

For now, VTB will offer products primarily to its existing customers. "Although we currently have a small market share in the mass segment, this audience is in the millions of people. Loans are usually not the product to attract new customers to go to a bank (new to bank), or it is a very expensive attraction. The product that will encourage customers to come to VTB will definitely be non-credit, either a salary offer or a transactional offer that stimulates the transfer of credit to our card," Pechatnikov said.