VTB: by the end of the year, banks will increase cashback payments by 25 billion rubles

The growth will be ensured by point setting up loyalty programs: banks will direct budgets to the most popular categories, partnership promotions and personal offers to customers. This was told in an interview with Izvestia by the head of the VTB Loyalty Program Roman Sinenko.

“The era of thoughtless cashback is over, but loyalty itself has not gone anywhere – it has become smarter,” said Roman Sinenko. A bank may knowingly spend more on a new customer than it receives in the first month, but it must be a calculated decision. Consistent work with the client begins.”.

Users have also become more rational: they compare terms, select categories with maximum returns, and distribute purchases among banks. According to VTB, about 85% of customers deliberately choose the categories with the greatest benefit. As a result, competition shifts from the fact of having a card of a particular bank to the share of daily transactions of the client on the card.

The most popular category remains supermarkets: their share in customer spending has been growing since September last year. The top also includes pharmacies, cafes and restaurants, as well as cashback "for all purchases", the popularity of which depends on the season. In September, pharmacies again entered the top three most popular categories in both the mass and premium segments.

At the same time, the loyalty program ceases to be only cashback for purchases. VTB considers it as part of the client’s comprehensive benefit: it includes cashback for transactional activity, remuneration for storing balances, income on deposits and savings accounts, as well as discounts and privileges of partners.

“The customer votes with the ruble. If he sees a more profitable offer, he quickly rebuilds his behavior, Roman Sinenko summed up.