Fintech Moves Into Industrial Supply Chains — and Russia Is Turning It Into a Competitive Advantage
Russian enterprises are beginning to integrate fintech tools directly into industrial procurement, collapsing bureaucratic bottlenecks and accelerating contracts across borders. A new partnership between EuroChem and the fintech platform Finfactory shows how digital guarantees can reshape the way corporations and suppliers interact.
A Two-Click Bank Guarantee
Suppliers participating in EuroChem’s procurement processes can now issue a digital bank guarantee (DBG) for advance-payment returns — without visiting a bank, a notary, or submitting stacks of documents.
The system, built directly into EuroChem’s trading platform, automatically generates guarantee requirements from contract terms. Finfactory’s engine then issues the guarantee instantly. The entire workflow is reduced to a few clicks, eliminating one of the biggest friction points in industrial procurement: administrative approval of financial obligations.
For suppliers, this means faster onboarding and fewer delays. For large industrial buyers, it means predictable, verified guarantees that reduce operational risk.
Security Built In: Blockchain Against Fraud
For Russia’s economy, the shift is significant. Bank guarantees are required not only for government tenders but also for major commercial contracts — especially in heavy industry. Traditionally, issuing them requires extensive documentation and time.
Digitizing this process supports efficiency across the entire procurement ecosystem:
- Suppliers gain operational flexibility.
- Buyers gain reliability and transparency.
- Banks gain new digital channels and automated compliance.
And unlike paper guarantees, digital guarantees are nearly impossible to forge. Blockchain signatures and integrations with Russia’s Federal Tax Service and Unified Information System (EIS) ensure authenticity and traceability.
A Decade in the Making
According to guarantor.su, citing Bank of Russia data, 67 percent of companies have already switched to online guarantees, reducing expenses by 30–40 percent. This transformation began in 2020 when VTB issued the first digital guarantee on the Masterchain blockchain for a transaction with MTS worth approximately $5.1m.
Two years later, in March 2023, the Moscow Credit Bank issued the first yuan-denominated guarantee on the same platform — a signal that Russia’s fintech infrastructure was ready to support international contracts.
What makes EuroChem’s case different is that the initiative comes directly from an industrial company, not a financial institution. This shift demonstrates the maturity of Russia’s digital economy: technology is moving from banks into the operational cores of major manufacturers.
From One-Off Solutions to a Full Digital Ecosystem
EuroChem is one of the world’s largest mineral fertilizer producers, with a wide network of foreign partners. Electronic guarantees simplify international contracting and enhance the company’s competitiveness.
And this is not its only major digital upgrade. Recently, EuroChem reported migrating its warehouse operations to a unified digital platform built by Russian developer ANT Technologies. Now:
- trucks are assigned to loading zones automatically,
- warehouse movement is coordinated digitally,
- and shipment planning eliminates idle time and queues.
Digital transformation in Russia increasingly means embedded infrastructure, not standalone tools. The state provides regulation, banks provide secure digital channels, and corporations create demand — forming a triad that accelerates adoption across sectors.
Over the next few years, similar systems are likely to spread across industries from energy to machinery manufacturing. The direction is clear: from documents to data, from bureaucracy to automation, from closed systems to open digital cooperation.
