Russia’s high-tech payment industry

The article discusses the features of innovative operation of the retail sector of the Russian payment system under modern conditions, which are necessitated by the need for the development of a sovereign, high-technology settlement and payment infrastructure in light of the rapid digital transformation of the financial sector. Key indicators of the development of key components of the Russian payments system such as the National Payment Card System and the Fast Payment System are analyzed. The author concludes that these systems operate on a highly technological basis. The main innovative technologies that contribute to the establishment of a digital payment and settlement ecosystem in Russia are examined. These include artificial intelligence (AI), payment innovations, biometric authentication, and application programming interfaces (APIs). Special attention is paid to biometric acquisition as a potential future of payments. A SWOT analysis of the implementation of the cross-platform biometric acquisition network is presented, and a conclusion is drawn regarding its advantages and disadvantages, as well as key tasks for its development.