Digital Ruble: What Awaits Consumers of Financial Services?

The full implementation of the digital ruble as a means of payment in Russia, planned for mid-2025, has been postponed indefinitely. This decision creates, in particular, the opportunity to expand research into the potential impact of the digital ruble on the economy. One of the most pressing issues in the field of financial technologies is their impact on consumers of financial services. In connection with the above-mentioned, the purpose of the article is to identify the channels through which the introduction of the digital ruble can have the most significant impact on consumers of financial services. The quantitative study was carried out on the basis of descriptive and regression analysis to test statistical hypotheses. The work uses data from the Bank of Russia on deposit yields, zero-coupon yields, balances on current accounts, data from Frank RG on bank financing of loyalty programmes, as well as data from consolidated financial statements of companies. The article highlights the direct and indirect impact of the digital ruble on consumers of financial services. The direct impact is straightforwardly linked to the emergence of a new liquid payment instrument, cheaper than cashless payments, free of credit risks and available in mobile applications of commercial banks. At the same time, on the basis of the digital ruble, it is potentially possible to introduce additional functions, such as smart contracts. The introduction of digital ruble could lead to increased transparency of financial transactions and change the risk profile in the area of consumer security for financial services. The indirect impact of the digital ruble is associated with increased competition between commercial banks for private clients' funds. The article shows that such competition has intensified in recent years against the backdrop of the development of mobile banking, the introduction of fast payment systems and the emergence of financial marketplaces. An analysis of the specifics of such competition allows us to conclude that the introduction of the digital ruble encourages banks to expand loyalty programmes and cashback practices, and may also lead to increased misselling and unethical behaviour, which is important to consider within the framework of behavioural supervision. At the same time, based on a quantitative study, it was shown that competition between banks for funds from individual clients has historically not led to an increase in rates on short-term deposits of individuals. Thus, for deposits with a term of up to 90 days in 2012-2025, such rates were 2 percentage points lower than the yield on FLB (Federal Loan Bonds) and 3.6 percentage points lower than rates for non-financial organizations with similar maturity dates (all differences are significant at the 1% level), and as of 2021-2024, such differences in rates have not decreased. The article shows that the scenario of increasing rates on short-term deposits of individuals due to the introduction of the digital ruble is possible, but unlikely.