Ozon Bank Plans Business Lending Beyond Its Marketplace in 2025

Summary: Ozon (MOEX: OZON) will start lending to businesses, including outside its marketplace, with the credit-portfolio expansion scheduled for 2025. Ozon Bank will enter the external market with products for both individuals and legal entities, while its subsidiary Ozon Fintech already lends to marketplace customers. Experts polled by RBC expect the bank to focus on small business and to face tough competition beyond its own ecosystem.

What the company announced

An Ozon representative confirmed the plans. The credit-portfolio expansion is scheduled for 2025: Ozon Bank intends to move beyond the marketplace perimeter and start lending to businesses not connected to the platform. On the external market the bank will offer products for both individuals and legal entities. Lending already operates inside the ecosystem: the subsidiary Ozon Fintech issues loans to marketplace customers. Corporate website: https://www.ozon.ru.

Expert assessment: the small-business niche

Independent financial expert Semyon Novoprudsky believes that instead of competing with industry leaders, Ozon will most likely concentrate on small business. In his words, these are banking operations that require the relevant license, and such organizations exist within the Ozon system; the whole question is scale. Expanding the bank will require higher capitalization - through loans from other banks or Ozon's own funds; the company needs to build a pool of resources sufficient for at least a year or two of such activity. The expert estimates the required sums at anywhere from hundreds of millions to several billion rubles.

In this segment Ozon Bank will compete with mid-sized and small banks: it is known that some large banks work reluctantly with small business despite all declarations. Ozon can offer companies loans at a slightly better rate and on slightly better terms. This is unlikely to become the core business or bring very large profit, but, first, it is an expansion into a new sector of the economy and finance that yields stable profit; and second, an attempt to build a pool of loyal partners in order to sell goods from abroad, including from unfriendly countries.

Context: marketplace banks

Besides Ozon, Yandex and Wildberries offer their own banking services. Since the start of 2024, individual deposits at Yandex Bank grew 2.5 times, RBC calculated; Ozon Bank attracted twice as much deposit money over the same period. Currently Yandex, Ozon and Wildberries offer marketplace customers installment services, debit cards and deposits.

Business lending outside the marketplace is planned for 2025, with products for individuals and legal entities.
Ozon Fintech already issues loans to platform customers.
Deposits: Yandex Bank up 2.5 times since the start of the year, Ozon Bank up 2 times (RBC data).
Estimated investment need: from hundreds of millions to several billion rubles.

Analysts' doubts

Pavel Samiev, chief executive of the BusinessDrom analytics agency, doubts that marketplace banks will aggressively expand their external business. In his assessment, they will widen their presence and lend to those who buy and sell goods on their platforms; moving to external contours, however, means very tough competition. It will require substantial investment in promotion, and it is not certain that margins will be sufficient to operate efficiently and profitably. Above all, banks tied to marketplaces will concentrate on the internal contour: brand recognition is high, but promotion is still needed in retail lending specifically; the market is competitive, there are many players, and these new banks arguably have no clear advantage.