Ozon buyers will be able to lend money to its suppliers

The Ozon online retailer launched the Ozon.Invest platform in test mode, where individuals can lend money to small and medium-sized businesses, learned Vedomosti from Nikita Saigutin, head of the Digital Finance division at Ozon. The yield on loans announced by the company is significantly higher than bank rates on ruble deposits. However, this is a more risky activity, since the funds invested by investors are not insured.

More. Ozon suppliers and companies that sell their goods through its marketplace will be able to take a loan, Saigutin said. The service has been operating in test mode since December 21, the first loans can be issued in the first quarter of 2019.

• The minimum investment in the sellers' business is 10,000 rubles for up to six months. The yield announced by Ozon.Invest is 18% per annum.
• To provide a loan , you need to register on the Ozon.Invest platform, fill out a questionnaire, provide passport data, indicate the registration address, TIN, Saigutin explains. After evaluating the financial condition of the borrower according to more than 200 parameters, the service will form a package in which it will offer to invest in several dozen Ozon sellers and which, in essence, should diversify the investor's risks.
• The investment will be formalized in the form of a loan agreement with each individual borrower in accordance with the Civil Code, stated on the Ozon.Invest website.
• Before transferring money to the borrower, the investor puts his electronic signature, thus expressing consent. After that, Ozon.Invest confirms the relevance of the loan and receives funds.
• The accrual of interest begins after the conclusion of the contract. The borrower pays a portion of the loan with interest on a monthly basis according to the schedule.

Pros. Such investments have an obvious advantage - their profitability is significantly higher than the rates on bank deposits (now 8% per annum), even taking into account the fact that a tax of 13% is paid on income from loans.

• Sellers will receive an additional opportunity to financially support their business, says Saigutin. The maximum loan amount is 2 million rubles for a period of up to six months. Also, sellers will have to pay a one-time fee to the platform in the form of 6% of the loan amount. No commission is charged for early repayment.

Minus. This is a "risk activity," says Saigutin - unlike deposits, investments in the form of loans are not insured.

• In such a situation, the investor runs the risk of not receiving interest and loans on time, says Galina Gamburg, deputy head of the practice of property and liability relations of NUS Amuleks. According to her, the debt will have to be collected in court.
• You can insure yourself with the help of a pledge or surety, Hamburg believes. But Ozon.Invest does not impose such requirements on borrowers, it follows from the words of Saigutin.
• is responsible for returning money to investors The borrower, not the platform itself, , says Saigutin. But, he reassures, the platform has a system for scoring borrowers, monitoring debt and a procedure for its collection.
• The platform promises to help investors with debt collection in terms of preparing documents, filing claims and notifications, filing a lawsuit, he says. In this case, the lender does not need to go to court.

Competitors. There are several players in the field of p2b lending (peer to business) in Russia. These are Potok of Alfa-Bank, StartTrack of the Internet Initiatives Development Fund, City of Money of the Italian General Invest and others. Approaches to borrowers and investment conditions are different for everyone.

• launch similar platforms for p2b lending in the future. Chinese Tmall, possibly Goods.ru (part of M.Video-Eldorado), Beru of Sberbank and Yandex are planning to

Liana Faizova