Cash-in-transit market in anticipation of changes: Bank of Russia paper
The Bank of Russia proposes discussing measures to enhance information transparency of the cash-in-transit market, create equal conditions for its participants and support a balanced tariff policy for their services.
Today, the cash-in-transit market is characterised by an imbalance of interests between service providers and consumers. The digitalisation of retail payments results in a decline in the amount of cash transported. Some service providers leave the market, others raise tariffs and are obliged to cut their own costs often at the expense of the quality of their services. As a result, consumers are becoming increasingly dissatisfied complaining about prices and difficulties with finding service providers, especially in remote and hard-to-reach territories.
The Bank of Russia is considering various scenarios of regulating the cash-in-transit market to maintain the availability of cash across Russia. In particular, the regulator proposes establishing uniform rules for providers of cash-in-transit services and does not rule out introducing a requirement for mandatory accreditation of such companies and creating an official register of them. One of the measures may involve the standardisation of tariffs for cash-in-transit services.
The paper contains questions for discussion. Answers to them as well as comments and proposals will be accepted through 29 November 2024.