Wallets/yoomoney
YooMoney (formerly Yandex.Money)
0 standards supported
Overview
YooMoney (formerly Yandex.Money) is Russia's leading e-commerce payment system, 100% owned by Sberbank [1, 2, ru-cro]. Originally launched 2002 as Yandex.Money (Yandex + PayCash joint venture; PayCash 1997 founding), YooMoney was fully acquired by Sberbank in June 2020 + rebranded to YooMoney.
Scale: 35+ million users signed up (cumulative WebMoney + YooMoney + QiWi historic baseline). YooMoney serves as a key fintech tool in Russia facilitating utilities + e-commerce + service payments + integrating with merchant solutions under YooKassa for businesses + enables 160,000+ online stores.
Distinctive 2020 corporate event: Sberbank acquired Yandex's stake fully for ₽42.3 billion (~$610M) — corporate divorce of Yandex + Sberbank from broader joint-venture ecosystem (Yandex retained Yandex.Market + other assets).
History
1997 — PayCash founded as Russian e-money pioneer.
2002 — Yandex.Money launches [2]: Yandex + PayCash joint venture.
2007 — Yandex acquires PayCash stake to take majority control of Yandex.Money.
June 2020 — Sberbank fully acquires Yandex.Money [1] for ₽42.3B (~$610M); rebrands to YooMoney.
2020-2024 — Sber ecosystem integration [1]: YooMoney + YooKassa under Sberbank umbrella.
2025 — YooMoney serves as Sber's mass-market e-wallet [3].
Ownership & operator
Operating entity: YooMoney (NCO YooMoney + YooKassa business arm).
Owner: Sberbank (100% since June 2020).
Historical parent: Yandex (2002-2020 majority; via Yandex.Money JV with PayCash 2002-2007 + Yandex-controlled 2007-2020).
Regulator: Bank of Russia (CBR) — Non-Bank Credit Organization (NCO) license.
Technical integration
| Layer | Description |
|---|---|
| Channels | YooMoney mobile app (iOS + Android) + YooMoney online checkout + YooMoney card (Yandex.Money Wallet = MasterCard) |
| Identifiers | Phone + email + card number |
| Sber integration | Sberbank ecosystem (SberBank Online + SberID) |
| B2B arm: YooKassa — Russia's leading payment aggregator for businesses (160K+ online stores) | |
| Multi-currency: YooMoney supports multi-currency operations | |
| License: Non-Bank Credit Organization (NCO YooMoney) + payment-aggregator (YooKassa) |
Users & growth
2024-2025 baseline [3]:
- Cumulative signed-up users (WebMoney + YooMoney + QiWi): 35 million
- Online stores served via YooKassa: 160,000+
- 2020-2025 forecast: WebMoney + YooMoney + QiWi user count forecast to grow 300%+
Use cases
E-commerce checkout for 160K+ online stores via YooKassa; utility payments; mobile recharges + service payments; Yandex.Money MasterCard card spending; donations to bloggers + creators; cross-border-payment infrastructure (multi-currency); Sber ecosystem integration.
Implementations & partners
Operator: YooMoney (Sberbank fully-owned since June 2020).
Parent: Sberbank (RU's largest bank).
Historical parent (2002-2020): Yandex (Russian search + tech leader).
B2B integration: YooKassa for 160,000+ online stores.
Major Russian e-wallet competitors:
- WebMoney (Russian e-wallet veteran since 1998)
- QiWi (Russian e-wallet + bank; licence revoked Feb 2024)
- [[sberpay]] (Sberbank's bank-led payment rail; sibling Sber product)
- [[t-bank]] (Russian super-app)
- [[ozon-bank]] (e-commerce-led)
- [[wildberries-bank]] (e-commerce-led)
Regulator: Bank of Russia (CBR).
Fun facts
- Originally Yandex.Money (2002) — Russian e-commerce-payment pioneer.
- June 2020 — Sberbank fully acquired for ₽42.3B (~$610M); rebranded to YooMoney.
- 35M+ cumulative signed-up users (combined Russian e-wallet ecosystem baseline).
- 160,000+ online stores served via YooKassa B2B arm.
- Yandex retained Yandex.Market + other assets in 2020 corporate-restructuring split.
- Yandex.Money MasterCard card product.
- Multi-currency support.
- Sber ecosystem integration post-2020 acquisition.
Comparison
| Feature | YooMoney | [[sberpay]] (Sber sibling) | WebMoney (RU veteran) | QiWi (defunct Feb 2024) | [[t-bank]] (RU super-app) |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Operator | YooMoney (Sberbank fully-owned since Jun 2020) | Sberbank (RU largest bank) | WebMoney Transfer | QiWi PLC (defunct Feb 2024) | T-Bank (Tinkoff heritage) |
| Type | RU e-wallet + e-commerce payment system + YooKassa B2B aggregator | RU bank-led account-to-account + QR + NFC | RU e-wallet veteran (1998) | RU e-wallet + bank (license revoked Feb 2024) | RU super-app + bank |
| Country | Russia + CIS multi-currency | Russia | Russia | Russia | Russia |
| Users | 35M cumulative; 160K online stores via YooKassa | Sber 100M+ retail base | RU veteran user-base | Defunct | Russia super-app scale |
| Distinctive | Sber 2020 acquisition (₽42.3B); rebranded from Yandex.Money; YooKassa B2B | Apple/Google Pay 2022-exit replacement | WebMoney 1998 RU e-money pioneer | License revoked Bank of Russia Feb 2024 | Tinkoff super-app heritage |
Status
Active, Russia's leading e-wallet + e-commerce payment system + YooKassa B2B aggregator [1, 3]:
- YooMoney (Sberbank fully-owned since June 2020).
- Originally Yandex.Money (2002) → YooMoney (2020 rebrand).
- 35M+ cumulative users + 160K+ online stores via YooKassa.
- Bank of Russia-regulated as NCO YooMoney + YooKassa payment aggregator.
Sources
- 1 YooMoney — official
- 2 YooMoney — Wikipedia
- 3 YooMoney — Grokipedia
- 4 YooKassa — official
- ru-cro In-corpus:
reports/countries/RU-russia.md
Source
Biography extracted from yoomoney.md. See matrix.md for standards-support matrix if present.