Yandex, Sberbank Report JV for Electronic-Money Solutions

Yandex YNDX and Sberbank of Russia today announced a strategic partnership in the area of e-money, through the establishment of a joint venture on the Yandex.Money platform. Yandex and Sberbank plan to be at the forefront of developing innovative online retail payment solutions by combining Sberbank's banking expertise and Yandex's internet technologies. Sberbank and Yandex will form a joint venture through the acquisition by Sberbank of a 75% interest in the charter capital of Yandex.Money for $60M, with Yandex retaining a blocking interest in the JV (25% plus one ruble). Evgenia Zavalishina, Yandex.Money's current CEO, will head the JV. The JV's board of directors will include two representatives of Yandex – Evgenia Zavalishina and the company's CEO Arkady Volozh, joined by three members representing Sberbank of Russia - Alexandr Torbakhov, Denis Bugrov and Viktor Orlovskiy. Developer teams of Yandex.Money and Sberbank have already started together on planning new projects. New products will leverage existing Yandex.Money technologies and will be released under the Yandex.Money brand. Yandex.Money users will remain customers of the existing legal entity Yandex.Money, a non-banking credit organization operating under a license issued by the Central Bank of Russia.