On May 25–26, 2022, the capital of Uzbekistan, Tashkent, hosted the 2nd International PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction.” Today we are summarizing the initial results of this large-scale event.
The capital of Uzbekistan, the country with the most dynamically developing economy in the region, has for the second time become the venue for the international PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction.” It is no coincidence: let us recall that, according to the World Bank forecast, Uzbekistan’s economy will grow by 5.5% in 2022, and in Central Asia overall, by the end of this year, an economic growth recovery of 4.3% is expected.
Supported by the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan, the event once again confirmed its status as one of the most in-demand cross-industry communication platforms in the Central Asian region, bringing together over 1600 delegates from 51 countries around the world this year.
More than 120 experts representing various international and regional companies spoke at panel sessions and round tables. For two days, Tashkent’s International Hotel served as a unique platform for productive business communication between financial market participants and professional experts — headliners in fintech and retail.
The representative exhibition, held as part of the Forum, featured 79 companies that acted as partners and sponsors of the PLUS-Forum. At the companies’ stands, innovative technologies, solutions, products, and services were widely presented in such areas as fintech, banking, government services, e-commerce, and retail trade.
Aleksandr Grizov, Chairman of the Organizing Committee who opened the 2nd International PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction,” greeted the delegates and noted the growing interest in the event from market participants: “Taking the first step is always wonderful. It demonstrates courage, decisiveness, and a positive attitude. Taking the second step requires fortitude and a desire to continue a long course. This is our principle, and we will always follow it!”
Ilkhomjon Abdugafarov, Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank of the Republic of Uzbekistan and a member of the Board of the Central Bank, noted in his speech: “The success of last year’s PLUS-Forum made it possible to broaden the scope of the event this year, as well as to invite a larger number of participants. The Forum has become much bigger, and delegates from more than fifty countries have come here.”
After providing a detailed overview of the prospects of Uzbekistan’s payment system market, Ilkhomjon Abdugafarov emphasized that comprehensive reforms aimed at improving the payment system market are ongoing in the republic. He also mentioned the creation of a cybersecurity center in Uzbekistan, the successful development of a biometric identification project, and that the number of non-bank payment service providers already exceeds the number of banks themselves.
Kristina Dorosh, Vice President, Regional Manager of Visa in Central Asia and Azerbaijan, welcomed the participants of the PLUS-Forum and briefly reminded them of Visa’s more than 60 years of experience, emphasizing that throughout this time, Visa has been a global leader in the development of digital technologies and payment solutions and operates in over 200 countries worldwide.
“We have issued 3.8 billion accounts, which means almost half of the world’s population has a Visa card, and we process 232 million transactions per year,” K. Dorosh noted. “Accounts are accepted at more than 70 million retail locations worldwide. The term ‘fintech’ appeared relatively recently, but the concept itself essentially emerged 60 years ago. We were the first fintech that created the first electronic payment system.”
Kristina Dorosh also said that the Central Asian market is a priority for Visa: “We’ve been here for 25 years already, and this year we have the honor of being the title sponsor of this event,” she stressed. “The PLUS-Forum provides a platform that lets us discuss what is happening and take a closer look at what companies are doing.”
A special guest of the PLUS-Forum, Michael Rakhman, an international practicing expert in business development and transformation in the banking and retail sectors, on the second day of the program conducted a master class in the format of a business breakfast on “Difficulties and Imperatives of Leadership in the Digital Age.” Using an impromptu brainstorming session, participants discovered which qualities a leader in business must possess, and which capabilities set them apart.
Discussing the difficulties of leadership in business that arise in the digital age, Michael Rakhman remarked that the world is changing very quickly, which makes an adaptive approach relevant in business: “Digitalization and globalization are changing many things now. Old business models were focused exclusively on stability. Specifically, classical management theory was designed for stability in a manufacturing environment. But that was right many years ago. At that time, there was no digitalization, no globalization, and it was very easy to control your environment. In the modern era, we have competitors worldwide. This is a major challenge because customers’ needs, preferences, and behavior change very quickly. And the more offers and opportunities they have, the faster their needs, preferences, and behavior change.”
The business program on the first day of the event encompassed several panel sessions in which a wide range of pressing industry issues was discussed in detail, and the speakers spoke about their experience based on their companies’ examples. Practically all specialists agreed that the digitalization of banking and payment systems and their constant transformation is a real necessity of our time.
Many session speakers noted that the rapid development of the fintech industry and digital transformation are among the key drivers for almost any business. Considering that in recent years Uzbekistan has taken a confident step forward in terms of economic development, the topics discussed at the forum have gained new relevance and significance.
The moderator of the forum’s first session, “Further Digitalization — a Global Trend in the Banking Business,” Viktor Dostov, Chairman of the Association of Electronic Money and Money Transfer Market Participants (AED), Academic Supervisor of the Distributed Ledger Technology Center at St. Petersburg State University (CTRR SPbGU), gave his perspective on the future of global fintech. He said: “Right now we sense that a fourth revolution in the financial market is on the way. Specifically, central banks plan not only to issue money but also to keep it in their own accounts — that is, issuance will be accounted for not in bank accounts, but in the accounts of the central bank, or in a distributed ledger maintained by the central bank.”
The expert also provided a forecast for the further development of the global banking system: “Today we have a clear expectation: if this process moves forward, we will arrive at a fundamentally new banking system. It will be a single infrastructure, since all accounts will be accumulated in one place, and it will be a single-tier structure with direct monetary policy management.”
Vassilis Antoniades, Managing Director and Senior Partner at BCG (Boston Consulting Group) and Head of Financial Practice in the EMCR region, joined the session online and presented an overview titled “The New Economic Reality and Its Impact on the Banking System” on the big screen.
Talgat Ayupov, Chairman of the Board of Tenge Bank, noted in his presentation that Uzbekistan is a country of great opportunities, and shared with participants the experience of developing banking business in the republic. He also provided a presentation that was useful from a practical standpoint for those involved in fintech project development and sought to understand the main challenges in Uzbekistan’s payments market.
Irina Odinaeva, Managing Director of the Financial Services Department at Accenture, told Forum participants how new technologies are helping banks today develop such a highly sought-after product as digital mortgages.
Aleksey Volynkin, First Deputy CEO of the Innotech Group, speaking at the session “Banking Business in the Process of Transformation,” discussed a new business format — bionic companies, built on the symbiosis of artificial intelligence and humans, and placed special emphasis on the importance of implementing data preservation technologies for all processes in a company for uploading and training AI.
First Deputy CEO of Datatech, Aleksandr Fridman, spoke in detail to forum participants about practical applications of solutions based on Big Data and AI in the financial sector.
QIWI Commercial Director Aleksandr Agakov, speaking at the panel session “The Payments Business. Development in All Directions,” commented: “The last few years have been unique, and the pandemic has pushed all businesses to address various new tasks. Faced with this ‘future shock,’ people were only able to cope thanks to digitalization. Specifically, logistic chains that were disrupted became workable for people to receive goods and services much faster through digitalization. Digitalization became an escape from the trap that arose due to the pandemic.”
The presentation by Kirill Ovsyannikov, Deputy CEO for Strategic Directions at BS/2, about building a unique acquiring ecosystem in Uzbekistan was of particular interest to the audience since it included practical examples of implementing advanced technologies.
At the session “Technology. Banking Self-Service. Biometrics — a Mandatory Element of Modern Banking,” participants paid special attention to the presentation by Ilya Romanov, Commercial Director at Vision Labs, on computer vision technologies. The speaker thanked the organizers for the opportunity to share their experience and described to the attendees one of the most innovative projects that is being implemented today in more than 30 countries worldwide.
Vladimir Ivanov, Business Development Director at Aktiv, speaking at the session “Security. Cyberthreats, Social Engineering, and Other Challenges,” detailed modern e-signature and multi-factor authentication technologies for meeting cybersecurity needs in the financial sector, illustrating a number of practical use cases in collaboration with major banks.
At the end of the first day of the International PLUS-Forum in Tashkent, the national payment operator of the Republic of Uzbekistan, UZCARD, and a major supplier of high-tech solutions for business digitalization, the Innotech Group, summarized the results of the Startup Bridge acceleration program. Six finalist startup companies participated in the Demo Day event.
The second day of the 2nd International PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction” opened with the session “Open API. Crypto. Blockchain. The Multifaceted Transformation of Banking.”
Akshay Chopra, Vice President, Head of Innovations and Design at Visa in Central and Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, joined the session participants online and gave a talk titled “Digital and Cryptocurrencies, Payment Seamlessness.” In his speech, he explained in detail how central bank digital currencies (CBDCs) have been developed in various countries, illustrating his talk with a rich infographic.
Session moderator Vitaly Kopysov, Innovation Director at Sinara Bank, discussed the creation of Delobank, the first fintech for bank clients. He noted that now it’s no longer necessary to be a bank to build business applications that offer new opportunities for customer loyalty programs: “Today you can open a store, and in two minutes you can already download an app and accept payments. Essentially, we are giving our APIs to our clients — the businesses.”
Vitaly Kopysov talked about a new business system “bank for banks” and remarked that he doesn’t know “whether we are more of a bank now or more of an IT company,” because they increasingly work for businesses rather than for retail clients. He also illustrated a scheme called “QR in everything” to show how, thanks to the built-in function of payments via SBP, customers can now pay for any purchases even without a bank card.
The round table “Uzbekistan’s Retail Trade. New Challenges and Promising Solutions” brought together experts in international retail and e-commerce. Participants discussed the role of e-commerce in developing the countries’ markets, trends, prospects, and modern challenges in online commerce.
Speaking about retail trends, Aizmat Osmanov, CEO of Magnum, listed essential points required to build any business. He emphasized the critical role of interaction with regulators in terms of lawmaking and continuous dialogue with the government to stimulate business development without hindering but supporting it. He stressed that, in many ways, large businesses today serve as the driving force and clear the path for SMEs.
Answering the moderator’s question about whose leading experience their company references when talking about modern digital-format stores, Olga Utina, CFO of UDC Revo Charge, ex CFO of MegaFon Retail, said, “Before implementing something new and advanced on the market, we study international experience, particularly that of America, Europe, China, and Australia. The main question is how exactly to implement what’s necessary so that it doesn’t become outdated right away. In Uzbekistan’s retail, it’s essential to consider the mentality. And in order for the customer journey to be interesting, simple, and convenient, digital solutions must be applied.”
Georgy Fesenko, ex CEO of Rozetka.uz, ex Alibaba, talked about why logistics management is a key factor in scaling up a marketplace: “In reality, behind all of these convenient services for customers is a tremendous amount of work. Today, it’s no longer enough to simply open a showcase in a mobile app or only generate content. You need either on your own side or on the partner’s side a clear, transparent method of how you will actually handle logistics.”
The moderator of the session “Best Business Cases in Retail Banking. Analyzing, Adapting, Implementing,” Mark Zavadskiy, ex General Director of Alibaba in Russia and the CIS, ex Vice President of Sberbank, and a board member of the Riki Group, answered a question about the prospects of the fintech and retail markets in Uzbekistan: “Uzbekistan’s market today is very promising, and it has a unique opportunity, while undergoing digitalization, e-commerce, and fintech development, to leverage the lessons from different countries and avoid repeating others’ mistakes. Most importantly, it can figure out what from that experience fits the country’s culture and traditions, and how to adapt regulatory standards so that the digital economy develops ever faster.”
The final event at the 2nd International PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction” was the round table “Fintech 2022 and Neobanks. Main Trends.” Among the questions the participants actively discussed: why traditional banks do not suit e-commerce, how to turn e-commerce into a unicorn ecosystem based on fintech, corporate innovation in fintech, digital trends in banking and financial services, fintech as a driver of the digital economy, and several other topics.
The round table participants noted that the 2nd PLUS-Forum in Tashkent provided an excellent platform for exchanging experience among financial institutions, business representatives, payment and marketing companies from all over the world. Moreover, each speaker was able not only to share their company’s experience but also to propose specific solutions for one issue or another.
Discussing the development of financial services in the Republic of Uzbekistan, the session moderator Nukri Tetrashvili, CEO of TBC Bank (Tashkent), said: “The role of the government is very important in developing fintech in Uzbekistan. But to develop this market, you also need a critical mass of players. For example, TBC Bank became the first digital bank in Uzbekistan. On the one hand, that was easy for us, since it’s a major privilege, but on the other hand, it was very difficult. I’d add that if you lack a critical mass, the fintech infrastructure develops very slowly, which seriously hinders progress. Also, for banks and fintechs, you need not only a regulator but also effective work by other organizations connected to us. That’s why it’s vital that alongside fintech, the overall digital infrastructure also keeps developing.”
It is worth noting that, in addition to interesting meetings and productive networking, a number of agreements were signed between companies and government bodies on the sidelines of the Forum.
On the second day of the Forum, Innotech Group, a major supplier of high-tech solutions for business digitalization, signed a cooperation agreement with OOO “UNIVERSAL PLATFORMS” (UZCARD) to jointly use the Universal Integration Platform for the Uzbek market. This project is unique for the Uzbek market and will enable local players to effectively develop in the fintech industry.
In turn, Datatech became the official distributor of the Arenadata EDP corporate platform for data collection, storage, and processing in Uzbekistan.
According to numerous participants, the PLUS-Forum in Tashkent proved to be an extremely useful and content-rich platform for professional communication, which will undoubtedly serve as a new impetus for the development of innovations and promising international projects in Uzbekistan.
In his closing remarks, Chairman of the PLUS-Forum’s Organizing Committee, Aleksandr Grizov, thanked the event participants and, summarizing the outcomes, concluded: “Now, in our digital world, everyone has learned to value time, which has become a kind of cryptocurrency. Everyone has it in their pocket, and no regulator will ever ban the use of this cryptocurrency. That’s why we value time above all else.”
A detailed report on the representative exhibition part of the 2nd International PLUS-Forum “Banks and Retail. Digital Transformation and Interaction” can be found in the next issue of the PLUS Journal.
