YooMoney

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YooMoney
Native name
ЮMoney
FormerlyYandex.Money
FoundedJuly 24, 2002 (2002-07-24)
Key people
Ivan Glazachev, CEO
ServicesE-commerce payment system
OwnerSberbank
Websiteyoomoney.ru

YooMoney branded as ЮMoney, (formerly Yandex.Money) is an e-commerce payment system. It is 100% owned by Sberbank and operates in Russia and nearby countries.

The company's headquarters are in Moscow. It has branch offices in Saint Petersburg and Nizhny Novgorod.

History

The service was launched in 2002 as Yandex.Money (Russian: Яндекс.Деньги) by Yandex via a partnership with PayCash formed in 2000.[1][2] In March 2007, Yandex acquired full ownership of the service.[1][3] In March 2011, the service expanded to Ukraine, Belarus, and Kazakhstan.[2]

Beginning in February 2012, users were able to transfer money to Visa or Mastercard accounts.[4] Also in February 2012, Yandex.Money became the preferred payment method in the Opera Mobile Store.[5] In April 2012, Yandex Money began issuing debit cards on the Mastercard network.[6][7][8] In October 2012, the company enabled making card payments via a miniature point of sale terminal attached to a user's smartphone.[9]

In July 2013, Sberbank acquired a 75% interest in Yandex.Money for $60 million, while Yandex retained a 25% interest.[10] In 2013, the Yandex.Checkout service was launched (later rebranded as YooKassa).[11][12] In May 2014, Yandex.Money was integrated as a payment option for merchants using Skrill.[13] In October 2014, Nintendo began selling games via digital distribution through the service.[14]

In April 2016, the service began allowing near-field communication payments via its mobile app.[15] In July 2016, the service launched payments via Apple Watch.[16][17] In October 2016, the service began allowing payments via iMessage.[18][19] In November 2016, the service began working with Apple Pay.[20]

In March 2017, Ivan Glazachev became CEO of the service.[21][22] In November 2017, the service launched Yandex.Gas, allowing users to pay for gas remotely, without leaving their cars.[23]

In March 2019, the service began allowing for accounts holding 10 major currencies; the service automatically determines the best currency in which to make a payment.[24][25][26] In July 2019, the service launched "Ya.Streamer", allowing users to collect donations via streaming platforms, such as YouTube, Twitch, Smashcast, CyberHero, WASD.TV, Odnoklassniki, VK, Facebook, OBS Studio, and XSplit.[27]

In 2020, Sberbank acquired 100% of the service and it was rebranded to YooMoney.[28][29][30]

In 2011, the Federal Security Service required the company to disclose details of people who contributed to organizations run by Alexei Navalny, a leader of the opposition to Vladimir Putin in Russia.[31][32] As required by law, the company disclosed information for 100 contributors who used the service.[33]

In 2016, the government of Russia allegedly put pressure on the company to close accounts used to raise money for Alexei Navalny.[34] The Russian Central Bank denied the allegations.[35]

In April 2022, the United States Department of the Treasury initiated sanctions on the service as part of international sanctions during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.[36]

References

  1. "Yandex Becomes the Sole-Owner of Yandex.Money" (Press release). Yandex. 30 March 2007. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  2. O'Hear, Steve (15 March 2011). "Russian search engine Yandex expands its PayPal-competitor to CIS countries". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  3. Shipilova, Elena (24 December 2012). "Government embraces Yandex". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  4. "Yandex.Money Enables Funds Transfers to Visa or MasterCard Accounts". Yandex (Press release). 9 February 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  5. Lunden, Ingrid (28 February 2012). "Opera Takes Over Payments In Its App Store; Inks Deal With Yandex In Russia". TechCrunch. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  6. "Yandex.Money Launches Debit Card" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 17 April 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  7. Nielsen, Rachel (17 April 2012). "Yandex Electronic Payments System Adds MasterCard Plastic". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  8. Bryant, Martin SFP (17 April 2012). "Russian Internet giant Yandex takes its online wallet offline with the launch of debit cards". The Next Web. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  9. Golitsyna, Anastasia (31 October 2012). "Yandex.Money to turn smartphones into POS terminals". Russia Beyond. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  10. "Sberbank: Yandex and Sberbank of Russia Finalise Yandex.Money Joint Venture". EQS News. 4 July 2013. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Henni, Adrien (9 August 2017). "Yandex and Sberbank announce $500 million joint venture to create 'leading ecommerce ecosystem' in Russia". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Degeler, Andrii (19 December 2012). "Yandex sells 75% of its online payment service to Russia's largest bank Sberbank for $60 million". The Next Web. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  11. "Scan and pay: Yandex wants QR codes everywhere". Industry Dive. 29 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    Patel, Manisha (11 November 2016). "Yandex.Checkout to strengthen collaboration with Chinese online retailers". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
    O’Carroll, Lisa (3 June 2026). "link hi88". Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  12. "Yandex.Checkout launches QR-code payment feature". Electronic Payments International. 1 August 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  13. "Skrill To Launch In Russia". Pymnts. 27 May 2014. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  14. Takahashi, Dean (3 October 2014). "Nintendo starts selling digital games in Russia through Yandex". VentureBeat. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  15. "Yandex.Money adds NFC payments to mobile app". Finextra. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  16. "Yandex.Money to Launch Payments via Apple Watch". PaymentsJournal. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  17. "Russia's Yandex Money adds Apple Watch support". Industry Dive. 15 July 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  18. "Yandex.Money joins mobile messaging revolution". FinExtra. 6 October 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  19. "Yandex.Money introduces money transfers via iMessage". East-West Digital News. 12 October 2016. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  20. Patel, Manisha (7 November 2016). "Yandex.Money Brings Apple Pay to Customers in Russia". The Fintech Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  21. "Executive Spotlight Series with Ivan Glazachev, CEO of Yandex.Money". Payments Journal. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  22. "Yandex Money brings bankers onboard". Finextra. 1 March 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  23. "Yandex.Money to Enable Online Payment for Gas With an App". PaymentsJournal. 9 November 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  24. "Yandex.Money goes multicurrency". Finextra. 28 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  25. Blakey, Douglas (28 March 2019). "Yandex Money multi-currency service launches". Electronic Payments International. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  26. "Yandex.Money Targets Freelancers With Multi-Currency Solution". Pymnts. 29 March 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  27. "Yandex.Money enters streaming donations market via Ya.Stream — a good sign for the market". 12 July 2019. Retrieved 3 June 2026 – via Medium.
  28. "Now fully owned by Sber, Yandex.Checkout rebrands to 'YooMoney'". bne IntelliNews. 2 December 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  29. Henni, Adrien (2 July 2020). "Yandex and Sberbank Finalize Divorce". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  30. "Yandex and Sberbank agree to reorganize Yandex.Market and Yandex.Money" (Press release). GlobeNewswire. 23 June 2020. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  31. Starobin, Paul (22 March 2022). "Is Russia's Largest Tech Company Too Big to Fail?". Wired. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  32. Antoniuk, Daryna (9 August 2023). "Regulators fear Russia could access Yandex taxi data from Europe, Central Asia". Recorded Future. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  33. Mauldin, Ira Iosebashvili And William (3 May 2011). "Russian Search Firm Yandex Feels Pressure From Security Service". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  34. Stanovaya, Tatiana (27 November 2019). "Yandex Is Safe for Now, but Kremlin Compromise Is Fragile". The Moscow Times. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  35. "Russian Central Bank Denies Interfering With Alexey Navalny's Election Fundraising". The Moscow Times. 25 January 2017. Retrieved 3 June 2026.
  36. "U.S. Treasury Escalates Sanctions on Russia for Its Atrocities in Ukraine" (Press release). United States Department of the Treasury. 6 April 2022. Retrieved 3 June 2026.