The Central Bank of Russian Federation (Bank of Russia) in October recorded a sharp increase in the number of payment transactions using the Faster Payments System (FPS) -  214% increase compared to September.

In October people in Russia paid for purchases using QR codes 213 thousand times, the purchases amounted to more than 765 million rubles (equivalent to $9.7 million). Since the launch of the service, almost 390 thousand c2b transfers have been carried out for a total amount of more than 1.67 billion rubles ($21.2 million), so 54% of the total number of payments and 45.8% of the total amount of transactions were conducted in October.

According to the publication, the popularity of QR codes as a payment method grew earlier, but the growth rates were not so high. In September, compared to August, the number of such transactions in FPS increased by 61% (although the volume increased by 105%), in August compared to July - by 62 and 69%, respectively, in July compared to June - by 57 and 42%, and in June compared to May - by 21 and 37%.

According to experts, the growth is caused by the general trend of a gradual transition to contactless payment methods, an increase in the number of connected trading companies, and the active promotion of FPS and its capabilities.

Original (in Russian)