UrBC, Yekaterinburg, August 15, 2017. The Ural Bank for Reconstruction & Development’s customers had over 5,800 credit cards issued to them in the first half of the year, which is nearly four times more than in the first six months of 2016, the bank’s press service reports.

According to the bank’s Credit Cards Management Director Svetlana Davydova, better terms the bank is currently offering is one reason for this dramatic increase in demand.

‘We introduced many more options this year, so that our customers can actually benefit financially from using borrowed funds. For one, the credit card payback rate is now 10%, and the grace period comes to as many as sixty days,’ Davydova says.

She also explained that the current market situation (such as Russians’ stagnating disposable incomes and occasional cash flow problems) contributed to credit cards’ growing popularity.