Wildberries establishes microcredit company subsidiary

MOSCOW. Dec 22 (Interfax) - Wildberries marketplace has established a microcredit company subsidiary, VB Finance MCC LLC, according to data in the Unified State Registry of Legal Entities (USRLE).

VB Finance MCC LLC was registered on December 20, and its charter capital totals 10 million rubles.

A microcredit company is a type of microfinance organization that has the right to raise funds from legal entities and shareholders, but is not permitted to raise funds from individuals who are not founders and may not issue bonds. The law prohibits microcredit companies from issuing consumer loans to a single borrower totaling more than 500,000 rubles.

"We are establishing a legal basis for developing the key areas of Wildberries' business. Fintech will be one of the strategic priorities of the digital platform in the coming years, thus establishing VB Finance is logical confirmation of our plans. We plan to be one of the first to offer lending services to sellers," the company's press service told Interfax.

Wildberries also has a subsidiary credit organization, Wildberries Bank, which the marketplace acquired in 2021 with the aim of developing the financial services line and creating new products for Wildberries partners and customers.

The company also plans to register five additional companies, including VB Fashion, VB Sport, VB Charm, VB Trend, and VB Food, whose respective teams will focus on developing individual types of Wildberries' business, the company's press service added.

Wildberries is Russia's largest marketplace. The company nearly doubled gross merchandise volume (GMV) to 1.67 trillion rubles in 2022. The total area of all its logistics centers in all countries of presence was around 2.8 million square meters at the end of March 2023. The marketplace operates in eight countries, including Russia, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Armenia, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan.