Oleg Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in an interview
What Monobank mainly earns during the war, what currencies its head trusts and what the bank will be called, the owners of Mono are launching in Poland, writes EP.
Mono is perhaps the only bank that does not have a single branch or even a license. At the same time, 7 million Ukrainians are his clients, he is known in the most remote corners of Ukraine and even beyond its borders.
Perhaps it is the fact that Monobank is not a full-fledged bank, but only a retail product of Universal Bank, which is why thousands of NBU regulations do not apply to it, makes this structure as flexible and progressive as possible.
For almost a year of active fighting, Mono, thanks to the state, has increased its customer base by 30%. “When time pushes customers to take another card, we have become the first choice,” says Oleg Gorokhovsky, co-owner of Monobank.
It was thanks to him that during the war the product of the “bank” gained considerable popularity, thanks to which more than 11 billion hryvnias were raised in support of the military. If, for example, fee for “Bayraktary” I used only regular cards, because of the limits in payment systems, it would have ended in an hour. “Banka” allowed to circumvent these limits.
How did you manage to do this, why should businesses remove the Russian language, what is the best way to store money, how was Gorokhovsky sent to Perm at the beginning of his career at PrivatBank to “beat out money” from a debtor, and how does Mono plan to conquer the Polish market? You will learn about this from the conversation.
“Ukrainian companies do not need the Russian language at all”
— I want to start the interview with the language. You switched to Ukrainian. Your social networks are conducted in Ukrainian, public speeches are also in Ukrainian. Do you sincerely want to be in trend?
– This is sincere and you need to be in trend. The Ukrainian language trend is a very good trend. First of all, I want to apologize that I have not yet mastered the language perfectly enough.
I’m still translating in my head, so everything doesn’t happen very quickly. I see how everyone around is switching to Ukrainian, and this is like a way out of the comfort zone.
Language is what protects us. If it were not for such a large percentage of people who spoke Russian, and such a percentage of people who the “Russian” thought that they should be fired, and me too, perhaps everything would have looked somehow different.
Now it is clear that the war would have occurred under any circumstances. It was an excuse to “protect the Russian-speakers.” They would have come up with some other excuse to attack us.
We are a free nation, a free country, we don’t need to be freed from anything. Everyone has the right to speak any language, but I think that businesses in Ukraine should switch to Ukrainian and remove Russian from their interfaces.
Even despite the fact that, perhaps, there will be worse results on the Internet, because Russian-language pages are better indexed. It’s not about business. We are talking about the civic position of those who do business in Ukraine.
Ukrainian companies do not need the Russian language at all.
When we were one of the first to abandon Russian interfaces, we were worried about how the customers who chose the Russian language in the interface would react. Then there were, if I am not mistaken, more than 35%. It was a bold decision.
Then we conducted an experiment: when clients wrote to us in support in Russian, a colleague asked them if they denied that they would be answered in Ukrainian.
When we saw that 97.5% of clients say that they don’t care – “answer in the language that is convenient for you”, we realized that the issue of language in Ukraine is artificial.
In Israel, English-language interfaces cannot be found, not only Russian ones. Why do we need Russian in the interface? I believe that this is not a freedom of choice, it is a question of the position of businesses.
— In February, Monobank made big cyberattack. What was it?
— We have always been protected from cyber attacks, because our model does not imply the presence of a website.
The Monobank website is an advertising page. Even if you get it and it doesn’t work, no one in Ukraine will notice it. Thanks to this, we have always been well protected from DDoS attacks.
We started promoting our “jar”, and “jar” is just a link. If you have a link, then you can give it a lot of load.
We observed this when there was a large gathering of Prytula and Lachen, then Prytuly with Sternenko. There was a big load on their link, it was a powerful DDoS attack.
When there is a large meeting, we observe the load, that is, the enemy tries to shake it up.
Oleg Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in an interview
How is it done technically?
– The scheme is simple. You have the resources and can generate a lot of request traffic.
Millions of customers are trying to use this link at the same time. If the servers fail, things start to run slowly or give an error when you try to follow a link.
This is a common scenario, but there are clear fighting tools for this. That is, you can see from which IP addresses the load is coming from, and block them so that you can follow the link.
— Over the past 11 months, have you tightened security at Monobank?
“Security” is the wrong term. This is reliability. We have invested in reliability.
When we realized that we could not be sure of the uninterrupted delivery of services to customers, we moved part of the capacities concentrated in Ukraine to the “demilitarized zone” – to the cloud. This improved reliability.
Even if there is no light or communication, but somehow the client knocks on the bank, the bank will answer him, because he does not answer from Ukraine. In general, we have always had a good level of security.
How much money have you invested in the cloud?
— We spent about a million dollars on cloud migration.
— In recent months, there have been threats of new blackouts and attacks from side of the Russian Federation. What protection measures are you taking?
– Not. We see even behind the client’s behavior that people are accustomed to war. As paradoxical as it sounds, we do not notice a decrease in the activity of our clients during air raids.
It says that we are a very brave nation, accustomed to the fact that we have neighbors-under ** aces.
“Thanks to the ‘banks’, Ukrainians have collected more than 11 billion for the Armed Forces of Ukraine”
Do you keep your money in banks?
– I keep everything I have in banks, because it is inconvenient to keep money at home. How can you keep at home, for example, more than 100 thousand dollars? Where to store it? You can’t leave the house, you have to worry if everything is in order with the money.
“A lot of people are cashing out, worried that anything could happen.
“I don’t see it.
At the beginning of the war, the bankers were worried that a liquidity crisis would come, that customers would come to the banks en masse to withdraw money. If at the end of February-beginning of March a banking panic had increased, it would have been very bad for the country.
However, clients realized that banks were quite reliable, especially after the government and the president announced that during the war, all deposits in banks guaranteed by the state.
I think that in the economy it was one of the main decisions. The war opened up a good line: when it’s hard for us, we can do something without bureaucracy.
When the banks on the first day of the war applied for money to the National Bank for insurance, because it was not clear how we would stand, then all those who applied received the money in two hours. There was no bureaucracy.
When the president announced that during the war all money was guaranteed, it seems that this was his personal decision. It worked very well. We saw that customers leave money in the banking system.
How much money do you have in your bank accounts?
– This is a very personal question. I will not say.
– Okay, but in what currency?
(laughs) It’s a very simple question. Unfortunately, now the hryvnia does not fulfill the properties of safety, there is a very large unpredictability in the economy, therefore, of course, if there are savings, then they are in dollars and euros.
I don’t think it’s necessary to brag about it or discuss it. I have money, but I’m not on the Forbes list yet.
Oleg Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in an interview
— How does Monobank make money?
– Monobank, as usual, earns on interest on loans and commission income. Before the war, this ratio was 60% to 40% towards interest on loans. Now 60% is commission income, 40% is interest income from loans.
By the way, we reduced our loan portfolio by about 15%. Now we lend very modestly. Unfortunately, many clients were unable to service loans, because they are now in default.
How did the war affect your clients? I have the impression that during the war you had more of them.
— All banks have more customers. The average number of cards per client was somewhere around 1.7-1.8. Now, in my expert opinion, it is 2.5-3.
Why is that? Because there are limits on one bank. You cannot, for example, spend more than 100 thousand hryvnias a month abroad. You cannot withdraw cash abroad for more than 12.5 thousand hryvnia per week.
Such restrictions led to the fact that people need a plan B. This plan B made it possible for some players who, before the war, had a very difficult time getting new customers.
We, according to my estimates, at the beginning of the war had 20-25% of the card market. When time pushes customers to take another card, we have become the first choice.
So how many clients do you have?
— Now we have 6 million 750 thousand customers. At the beginning of 2022, we had exactly 5 million customers. That is, over the year we have grown by more than 30% for customers.
– You have grown up, among other things, thanks to the “bank” function, where volunteers hold large gatherings. How much money was collected in this way for the needs of the Armed Forces of Ukraine?
— More than 11 billion hryvnia. This is a tool that the Ukrainian phenomenon of charity really needs.
— How did you come up with the “Bank” function?
– We had the “Bank” until February 24th. This is not a new tool in banking. It is called differently, for example, in Privat (Privatbank – EP) it is “Piggy Bank” (“Piggy Bank” – EP). This is a feature for small savings.
We just realized that this tool can be used not only for personal savings, and made it possible for many people to “look like” some kind of goal.
It all started somewhere in the middle of May. The head of Ukrposhta, Igor Smilyansky, kindly presented me with a set of stamps with a Russian ship. I then held a drawing of these stamps among those who donated more than 100 hryvnias in the bank.
We started this viral story with the “jar” because I was able to show in a public example how a bank can be used. After that, we updated the service: we made it possible to replenish it via ApplePay and GooglePay, we made it convenient to add a card to the “banks”.
Why don’t cards work well in a meeting? For example, if the gathering for Bayraktary used only cards, it would end in an hour. People would run into limits that do not even exist in banks, but in payment systems.
Banka, on the other hand, uses an “engine” designed to pay for goods and services in stores, which allows you to bypass the limits. Thanks to this, the “bank” is a reliable tool for collections. I am proud that we have helped here.
“We enter the market in Poland”
– Your partner, the main shareholder of Universal Bank Sergey Tigipko, said in November 2022 that Monobank plans to go out to the Polish market. You then did not want to comment on these words. This is true?
– Yes. We are starting Polish history. This will be a good example of Ukrainian expansion to the West. Banking is named by users among the benefits that Ukrainians experience in Ukraine and which they lack in Europe (EU – EP).
According to our calculations, there are 3 million Ukrainians in Poland. We want, first of all, to give them a convenient service, which they are used to in Ukraine and which will show them how it should work. I hope the Ukrainians will support us.
Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in Poland in an interview
– That is, the emphasis in Poland is on Ukrainians?
– This is for all users. We will be very glad to the Poles. To open an account in this project, you need to be in Poland and have PESEL (similar to TIN – EP). We also have a partner bank there, and it has a rule for opening accounts.
First of all, we want to make a convenient corridor for transfers Poland – Ukraine, Ukraine – Poland. We also want to provide the service familiar to customers, to which they are accustomed. We plan to make awards, games, and promotions.
We have many plans, but it all depends on how our customers support us. I urge you: even if you don’t really need it, if everything is decided in Poland, don’t be lazy and support us.
We have a very original name in Poland: stereo. That is, here we are mono, and there we are stereo. It is very convenient.
Oleg Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in an interview
– Will the stereo application differ from mono?
— We really want it to be the same, but it will be different, because mono already has a lot in Ukraine. Stereo will develop as mono developed in Ukraine.
Why didn’t you comment on Tigipko’s words earlier?
— It was early. I believe that when such an important event occurs in a company, such news should be accompanied by a call to action, that is, a call to action.
That is, you have to give something so that customers can express their interest: either a link to download, or, like now, I’m trying to give a link to pre-order.
That is, when you just spoil the news, without any opportunities for customers, you fire a blank shot, this is not very useful for converting to customers.
We have a very simple site, stereo.io, please leave an application, when we start work, we will contact you. We expect this to happen in the first quarter of 2023. That is, the wait is not too long, join.
“I just graduated from the university and they sent me to Perm to beat out money”
– Once you were one of the leading managers of PrivatBank. And what happened before that? How did you learn to make money? What was your first business?
– I tensed up when you started talking about Privatbank (laughs).
– Why?
— Because people might think that if I worked at Privatbank, then I have something to do with these cases that are taking place around Privat.
It was a huge bank, it had a huge number of departments. I was in charge of the retail division that dealt with cards.
I studied at PrivatBank. Before graduating from college, in my last year I went to practice at PrivatBank and stayed there.
Oleg Gorokhovsky spoke about monobank in an interview
— Was it your first job?
– Until 2016, this was the only place of work. When I came there for practice, I set myself the goal of making a career in Privat. Therefore, he made a career there for 20 years.
He rose to First Deputy Chairman of the Board and was responsible for the retail business. Including due to the fact that I was doing this, Privat had more than 20 million cards. It was the first bank in Eastern Europe in terms of the number of cards.
I am very focused on the retail business. I feel like an expert in the card business, in card lending, but I’m not very good at, for example, corporate lending or large loans.
— What is your first position in Privatbank?
— I was a trainee in the department of correspondent relations. For about a year I worked with the language: I glued envelopes that we sent to correspondent banks. That is, we sent envelopes, I sealed them.
How did you manage to build such a fast-paced career?
– I received the first tangible purpose when I was sent on a business trip to beat money out of a bankrupt bank in Perm, in Russia. It was 1996.
There, Privat had some money stuck in its correspondent account. I just graduated from university and had to send someone to try and get my money back.
It was a completely hopeless case. I took a risk and left. Even now I remember how my mother saw me off: how to go to the front.
I arrived there and they told me: “We don’t give money to anyone.” I stayed there for a week and came every day. He went into the reception, sat down, approached everyone who passed by, and said: “Give us our money.”
A week later, some leader called me and said: “We didn’t do this for anyone, but you bullied everyone here so much that we have a list of those who are to blame for us.” There are some pledges, clothes …
– Did you give away the goods?
– Yes! They gave me two trucks of some jackets that I brought to the Dnieper. Then he sold them on the market for another year, but repaid this debt. So I got promoted for the first time, and then my career went pretty quickly.
– Who taught you?
– I think that Alexander Dubilet. This is a very progressive manager. The part that concerned technology, he did flawlessly.
– What is your relationship with Dubillet Sr.?
– We have never been very close friends with him, but I treat him with great respect. We have a good relationship. Unfortunately, we rarely cross paths.
“I have no complaints about Dmitry Dubilet”
– Wikipedia says that the founders of Monobank are Alexander and Dmitry Dubilety, Oleg Gorokhovsky, Mikhail Rogalsky, Vladimir Yatsenko, Lyudmila Shmalchenko and Vladimir Kovalev. Who is the owner now?
– Active management is carried out by: me, Mikhail Rogalsky and Vadim Kovalev. Vadim Kovalev means risks, while with Mikhail Rogalsky we are more involved in marketing and other things. So there are three people left.
– What is your part? So it remains a little more than 17%?
– Just like it was. I couldn’t buy anything (laughs).
Monobank is the first Fintech Band project launched by Oleg Gorokhovsky, Mikhail Rogalsky and Dmitry Dubilet after leaving PrivatBank.
— How much money did you all invest to launch Monobank?
– Not much compared to the result. It cost us about 5 million dollars to develop this product, and about the same amount Universal Bank needed to launch the project.
– Many economic journalists and your colleagues reproach you for spending the money that you “withdrawn from Privatbank.”
– Well, that’s stupid. This is pure nonsense. I did not withdraw anything from Privat. I can’t comment on anything about Privatbank, because it’s a huge colossus. I made money, paid taxes, and spent my money.
As far as I know, none of the partners spent any other money than their own, which they had in their accounts.
In general, I ask you to be more careful with the accusations. After all, no one is to blame until it is proven by the court. It will be proven – it will be another matter.
– Yatsenko and Dubilet Sr. are no longer related to Monobank due to suspicions of NABU?
– I do not know this. I know that Yatsenko’s package was transferred to his wife, and the package that was with Alexander was re-registered for his son. This is what can be seen from open sources.
– In previous interviews, you spoke in detail about your friendship with Dmitry Dubilet, who worked in the Goncharuk government and therefore left the Monobank project. Why did you quarrel with him?
We didn’t quarrel with him. We still have an excellent relationship with Dmitry, but he is engaged in another project.
It was very difficult for him to return. Unfortunately, when you are Ukrainian PEP (politically significant persons – EP), that is, when you went into politics – this is a difficult story to return to business.
As far as I know, he now has a fairly successful history. He himself does something like what we did in Ukraine. Dimitri does it in emerging marketsand he has very good results.
We continue to communicate with him.
Do you and Dubillet have an intellectual property dispute?
– I do not have.
– Forbes wrote that the lawyer of your business partner Lyudmila Shmalchenko sent a letter to Dubilet demanding to explain why his project in Azerbaijan uses similar design and marketing moves of Monobank.
– By the way, Lyudmila Shmalchenko was not my partner at that time. But yes, she has a question for Dmitry. I do not have any questions.
– Your colleagues in the market say that when you founded Mono, you agreed with the team that no one would use the ideas that they came up with in Mono in other projects. This is true?
— Yes, agreed (pauses). We are engaged in Monobank, now we are going to Poland. If Dmitry has questions and they have time, please, they can ask him these questions. I have things to do.
— Dmitry Dubilet is your friend?
Yes, we have a very close relationship with him. I won’t say that now we are as close friends as we were when we started in 2017, but these are friendly relations.
“It is important that everyone understands that now we need to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine”
— How much is Monobank worth now?
— I find it difficult to say how much a Ukrainian company can cost now.
I can say about myself: now I would not sell Mono for a billion dollars. I think it’s worth over a billion. And when we win and when everything returns to normal, we will see a real assessment.
You are a dollar millionaire, that’s obvious. Do you have any recipe for how to handle money properly?
– Not. I have this recipe: you need to try to remain human, no matter how much money you have.
It is very important that you remember what makes you have money, if you have any at all. It is very important that everyone understands that now you need to help the Armed Forces of Ukraine, because without the support of the Armed Forces of Ukraine you will have nothing.
— You have more than 120 thousand followers on Facebook, almost 180 thousand on Instagram and 160 thousand on Telegram. Why do you need this publicity?
— If you are in business and want to be trusted in your business, then it is much easier to trust a specific person than logos. This is a conscious strategy to associate your business with a specific person.
– So, you need to develop a business and simultaneously develop a personal brand?
– The personal brand of the founder and leader is very important to be successful and your brand has respect and trust.
Are you interested in politics?
– Not.
So categorically…
“I am not interested in politics, but everyone who can help should help.
Once upon a time, Mikhail Fedorov needed my help, and I was very happy to be useful. It was efficient. Now “Action” is what is called Ukraine’s great advantage over Europe. I am involved in this, it is a great honor for me.
– And the last thing: how not to lose heart?
– If the spirit has fallen, you need to load your schedule as carefully as possible. You should not have enough time to be bored and “loaded”. It is necessary to “plow”, then everything will be fine. If you’re depressed, roll up your sleeves and get to work.
Roman Kravets, translation Skeleton.info
