1. Doing Business in Russia, Payment Gateway Becomes the Priority-from GlobeBill
Russia is one of world’s most important emerging
markets, defined by both its size and its growth
potential. Despite the difficulties of the global financial
crisis, the Russian economy has performed remarkably
well over the last decade. However its method of
payment and quoting is not developing as fast and
sound as its economy.
All hard currency settlements with Russian companies
and organizations should be made through authorized Russian commercial banks (to
the exporter’s bank). Some exporters prefer the customer to make payment from hard
currency accounts held offshore in countries such as the UK, USA, Switzerland,
Cyprus, Luxembourg, etc.
An increasing number of Russian buyers are demanding flexible payment options,
mainly revolving credit lines (Russians do not normally use letters of credit due to
high local interest rates). Normal precautions should be exercised but trade finance
arrangements in the Russian market increasingly reflect international norms.
Foreign payment records of Russian companies (if any foreign payments have been
made) may be obtained via information services such as Dun & Bradstreet and
CoFace. Some companies obtain this data in lieu of credit reports, which are not
always available in this market. Corporate credit bureau such as CoFace have recently
started appearing in the market in Russia, but the level of information available is
generally less than in more developed markets.
After analyzing the payment condition in Russia, GlobeBill (www.globebill.com)
worked in partnership with the Webmoney and has officially launched a Russian local
payment gateway. By establishing a local payment gateway in Russia; GlobeBill can
effectively help the foreign investments solve the problems of operating difficulty. As
a representative of GlobeBill, Lin said that the number of Chinese third-party
payment companies involving in Russian Foreign Trade receivables were very limited
which has caused a lot of obstacles when foreign power want to enter the Russian
market. The payment gateway will be able to provide both Russian and Chinese
merchants a professional payment solution in Russian local business.