VTB Bank of Russia Acquires 5% Stake in WB Bank to Deepen Financial Collaboration with Wildberries Ecosystem

On May 28, it was announced that Russia's VTB Bank has entered into a strategic partnership with RWB Group, the parent company of Wildberries (the merged entity of Wildberries and Russ). As part of the deal, VTB will acquire a 5% stake in WB Bank, the proprietary bank of Wildberries. In exchange, VTB will grant the platform access to its nationwide branch network, ATM infrastructure, and investment and wealth management product systems. Concurrently, RWB Group will provide VTB with its e-commerce technology capabilities, IT solutions, and AI digital technologies to support the modernization of VTB's traditional banking operations and jointly expand the retail customer base. Following the partnership, WB Bank customers will gain direct access to VTB's personal financial products, such as housing mortgages. Small and medium-sized enterprises operating on the Wildberries platform will also be able to seamlessly connect to VTB's corporate account systems, trade finance, and settlement services through WB Bank. This collaboration marks the first instance in Russia where a major state-owned bank and a leading e-commerce platform are integrating through equity stakes and business embedding to achieve deep synergy, aiming to create a closed-loop connection between the e-commerce ecosystem and banking infrastructure. [Source: Ebrun Go. This article is generated by an automated writing robot developed by Ebrun. It uses algorithms to deliver e-commerce industry intelligence promptly. This 'dog' is still young; feel free to contact run@ebrun.com or leave comments to help it grow.]