Russia‘s top online retailer Ozon.ru is testing a service that will allow customers to grant loans to small and medium businesses among the company suppliers.
According to Vedomosti business daily, the new service, Ozon.Invest, was launched on December 21; new loans can be registered in early 2019. The company promises the annual interest rate of over 18%, which is higher than ruble deposit interest rates. The investments should amount to at least RUR 10,000 ($147). The service will develop recommendations for investors on the basis of 200 parameters of assessing a loan recipient’s financial status. Only Ozon.ru official suppliers will have the opportunity seek users’ loans, which will amount to RUR 2 mio ($29,400); currently, the number of such suppliers stands at about 2,500. An investor will use an e-signature to confirm a loan agreement.
The company assumes the responsibility for collecting overdue loans through court action and returning them to their clients; however, it cannot ensure the profitableness and recoverability of the investments, which, unlike bank deposits, are not secured. Ozon will make profit off of the service fee which is 6% of the loan sum.
Alfa-Bank, the Internet Initiatives Development Fund (IIDF) and the international company General Invest have similar P2B platforms.