This summer, the Central Bank of Russia will begin testing a new method of contactless payment for purchases. Owners of absolutely all smartphones with a camera, including models without an NFC module, will be able to use it. The calculation will be carried out using QR codes.
From August 30, QR-payments launched as part of the system of fast payments (SBP) will work in Russia in test mode. The timing of testing will depend on the first results. According to available data, two types of QR codes will be used for payment: static with a coded account of a specific store, printed, for example, on paper, and dynamic, which will be generated with each purchase on the cash register display or any other available screen. This information has already been confirmed in Alfa-Bank, Raiffeisenbank, Sovcombank and Rosbank.
Representatives of the companies believe that at first payment will only be available for static QR codes, since dynamic ones are more difficult to implement. Now, the Central Bank together with other banks is developing a standard for generating static and dynamic QR codes when making transfers from individuals to legal entities (C2B payments) using the SBP.
To pay via a static QR code containing the seller’s account, the buyer will need to scan the code through the bank’s mobile application, then enter the purchase amount on the smartphone and confirm the transaction. Besides the seller’s invoice, dynamic QR codes also contain information on the amount purchased, so the user simply needs to scan the code without any additional actions.
“Each credit institution will choose the most appropriate approach for itself or the synergy of models. But, of course, the implementation of payment using a static QR-code in the implementation seems to be more understandable, and probably this solution will be the first when starting the C2B service, ”said Alexander Solonin, head of the online sales department at Alfa-Bank.
