• How exactly have the sanctions affected ordinary people who receive their salaries on cards from your bank?

— We see our clients' transactions and can compare periods. We see that the vast majority of our clients spend their money in Belarus, and only a small portion of transactions go abroad.

An ordinary person who receives their salary in Belarusian rubles and spends them in Belarus does not face any difficulties.

"Those who are satisfied are significantly more"

• How many users do you currently have on the INSNC mobile app for iOS and Android?

— The distribution roughly corresponds to market statistics for device ownership: about 40/60. Although four or five years ago, our iOS share was higher than the market average. Now the figures have evened out.

— In early July, the App Store revoked the certificates for INSNC, and since then the app has been unavailable for download on iPhone. The bank recommends the web version to iPhone owners. But people complain that it is inconvenient, freezes, and lacks features. What are you doing about it?

— For iOS users, we have a web version, or PWA app. People are already using it, even though it looks unusual. There are indeed complaints, but those who are satisfied are significantly more. This doesn't mean we are doing nothing. Our goal is to bring the PWA's visual and functional aspects in line with the mobile app.

The PWA version has all the basic functionality, although it may lack the usual "bells and whistles." We understand that a native app is much more convenient. But for now, the real working version of INSNC is the web version.

If you follow the news, "Yandex Pay" was also removed from the App Store — no one will say on what grounds. Our app was removed for the same reason: there are no visible reasons. We immediately contacted Apple for clarification.

• Was your request ignored by the company?

— No, they gave a very vague, formal response. In practice, this means that one could file a lawsuit, but in the near future, it would yield nothing. In this context, dependence on external platforms is very sad for me: we instantly lose all the benefits of globalization. The world is fragmenting again, and it turns out that based solely on geography, people can be inconvenienced so easily, without any explanation.

— Alfa Bank was the first in Belarus to announce that users would need to provide geolocation to access the app. How does this help protect money? And who is responsible for the security of personal data?

— We were the first to announce this news because we didn't want to surprise our customers on July 1st. We wanted the transition to be as smooth as possible. We said, "Guys, this is what's going to happen, please enable geolocation." Naturally, we received a lot of hate: people thought we were giving their data to someone else.

We consciously took this risk. The load on our support team increased, we got hundreds of comments: people were upset, thinking this was solely our initiative and that we were collecting data for some unclear purpose. They said, "They're going to track me, who I am and what I do." At some point, the National Bank saw the wave of comments and also gave detailed explanations. Then other banks joined in.

What does knowing your geolocation give us? To start from afar: the problem of fraudsters is very relevant, and they are constantly evolving. If before it was about skimming devices on ATMs, today it's pure social engineering, where you are convincingly asked to give your data, and then they can do anything with your money.

The advantage of digital banking is convenience. The downside is the possibility of theft.

Therefore, global practices for fighting fraudsters are also evolving.

What does a person do when they are deceived? The first thing they do is call the bank: "I've been scammed, help me." And we look and see that they transferred the money themselves. So, from the perspective of the evolution of fraud fighting in many countries, and now with us, a digital fingerprint of your device is being created, and geolocation is a part of it. We are definitely not reinventing the wheel. And it's important to reiterate that the bank will not disclose this data to anyone. I think this fear is somewhat irrational.

In fact, geolocation is just one of more than 20 parameters we analyze. It took us about six months to learn how to collect information about the phone model, operating system, and other data.

All of this is needed so that banks can confirm at the hardware level: the transaction is being made by you, and not by a fraudster who has gained access to your data.

— Obviously, Belarusians have once again come to believe in the Belarusian ruble. Even over a long-term horizon, deposits in rubles are more profitable than in foreign currency. That is a fact. And the past two years have shown just how substantially more profitable this is.

However, despite the high profitability of ruble deposits, from the perspective of personal finance management, it is most correct to diversify assets. In other words, it is advisable to keep money in different "baskets," distributing funds among ruble deposits, foreign currency, and other instruments. This approach not only maximizes income but also reduces risks associated with possible currency fluctuations.