Two agreements signed between Tatarstan and Sberbank

On July 14, in Innopolis near Kazan, Interim President of the Republic of Tatarstan Rustam Minnikhanov and Chairman of the Executive Board of Sberbank Herman Gref signed two agreements between Tatarstan and Sberbank.

The first agreement on cooperation in the field of Islamic finance envisages considering and making proposals for the development of the Islamic financing in the republic.

"We are making the first steps in terms of using the Islamic banking. Not only Islamic, but also a lot of European countries are using these mechanisms. Given the fact that there are some difficulties in foreign financial markets, it is a good tool. Together, our republic, which has good contacts with the Islamic world, and the Sberbank as a powerful banking structure, we could do a lot for the whole country," Minnikhanov said.

The second agreement - "Cashless Tatarstan" - envisages the implementation of a set of measures aimed at the development of non-cash operations in all areas in the republic. The document includes a project for issuing the Card of the resident of the republic, fulfilling the Cashless City concept in several cities of Tatarstan, and infrastructure projects related to arranging non-cash payments in retail and service enterprises.

"This agreement is the result of our eight-month work. We met in December 2014 and agreed that we would make the next step to run the Cashless Tatarstan experiment. It is beneficial to the republic, because it shows the real money turnover and makes the entire business transparent. In addition, it is beneficial to the residents of Tatarstan and the bank, because any cash flow is big expenses for us," Gref said.