SumUp, a merchant debit and credit card payments system for mobile devices, has launched its service in Russia and announced a partnership with the financial conglomerate Svyaznoy Group.
Svyaznoy currently enjoys a market share of 30% of all smart-phone sales in Russia through its 2,300-strong retail store network.
Its financial services unit, Svyaznoy Bank, is one of Russia’s fastest growing banks and ranks as the 76th-largest bank in the country by assets.
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Merchants will be able to sign up to the mobile payments service in Svyaznoy stores as well as on SumUp’s website.
According to Daniel Klein, CEO of SumUp, there is great potential for mobile payments penetration in Russia:
"With more than 6 million small businesses and extremely fast growing smart-phone usage, we see a real need for an easy and secure solution for card payment acceptance in the Russian market."
Furthermore, the solution will be installed across Svyaznoy stores in order to accept card payments from retail customers.
Maxim Nogotkov, president of Svyaznoy, said: "We chose SumUp as a partner because they have the most advanced technology of any company in the market and they have proven their ability to launch successfully in key European markets. We are convinced that together we will be able to revolutionise the way merchants take payments all over Russia."
Beyond Russia, SumUp’s card reader service is available in 10 European markets, processing all major credit and debit cards, including MasterCard, Visa and American Express.
