‘The bank and business cooperation is one of the oldest Russian banking market’s sectors and is also one of the most conservative ones. The latest breakthrough in the field occurred even before the banking crisis of 1998 and consisted in the introduction of a 24/7 remote banking service targeted at saving the bank and the customers’ time. As for the decade that followed, despite the soaring loan volumes offered to small and medium enterprises, all the so-called innovations were merely an adaptation of earlier (and better) policies.

There is a reason for this: most banks have already acquired a certain client base, so they only tried to support the customers’ loyalty with new lending offers or more subsidiaries,’ says URSA Bank’s Deputy GD Daniil Sandler.

‘As a result, a bank will normally offer businesses remote banking services, multi-faceted customer service, and special offers for SMEs. Such a company will generally compete with other banks though pricing policies, interest rates on loans, and infrastructure development. We haven’t had many cases of fierce product competition as of yet,’ he adds.