The main theses of Sergei Leontiev in an interview with the "Secret of the Firm"

A large-scale interview with Sergey Leontyev, co-owner of the Life group, was published in The Secret of the Firm.

Leontyev is an informal banker, currently engaged in the creation of the women's bank "Let's go." In the current conditions, which can not be called "simple" for the financial industry, Sergey Leontiev is busy

"Megamind" leads the most interesting quotes from the interview.

About banking in the past and present

A lot of challenges appeared. The main problems are clear - the fall in household income and the deterioration of the quality of the loan portfolio. The crisis continues and improvements are not yet visible. But we realized in 2013 that growth would stop.

There are no plans and directives. We have many different businesses (7 banks, a factoring company and a venture capital fund, “The Secret”), but all follow the same basic principles. The main thing - everything is built on personal interaction with the client. There is not a single subsidiary bank where the client would not have a personal specialist who solves his problems. This is our main competitive tool. Banker as a personal doctor or lawyer. And all the processes of the company adapts to this idea. A manager may or may not use scoring. This is not a question of technology. The question is who is responsible and makes the final decision? The manager can issue a loan, even if the mathematical model says not to. And vice versa. It's his choice. From my point of view, any business should be built this way. If it is not so built, then it is his problem.

The dominant model is now when formats are intertwined. Online banks are testing offices and going offline, offline, of course, they have been going online for a long time and seriously. And it turns out the symbiosis of channels. For example, we created the button service, where customers only communicate in a chat. But this is also a personal relationship. Many clients thought that their personal manager was not talking to them in the chat, but someone else, and they were nervous. We guarantee that it is your Masha who answers the questions that came to your mind at 4 am. It is important.

About Bank24.ru

Well, what is there to tell. Comment on the actions of the regulator is incorrect. For us it was unexpected. We developed the business, but underestimated the risks. Our business model provides that compliance control (compliance with the law. - Approx. Ed.) Is completely given to managers. We do not have centralized procedures at all. And if they work, they are ineffective. Which operation is dubious, and which is not - decided bank employees. We believed that they would adequately relate to customers.

You can trust a friend $ 10,000, but do not trust a $ 50,000 and a car. You know, for example, that he will go to the casino, lose everything and break the car. There are different circumstances. Trust must be earned.

About the enterprise staff

Of course, in Russia there is a certain specificity. We have been living in a system of double standards since childhood - we exist, and they have to be honest with others, according to circumstances. People get used to this ideology. But Russians are not all thieves. And we in the company are trying to build everything differently. Of course, not all people are ready for this. Our task is not to let such people, and if they appear, then quickly get rid of. I am convinced that in this country you can create a business built on trust, not bureaucratic control.
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It's like a war - yes, authoritarian regimes have some advantage, they can quickly mobilize the army. But the United States, for example, shows itself well in military operations. Democratic regimes allow you to properly organize processes. If we reduce our values ​​to one word, this is “freedom”. We need people who value freedom. And then we filter the crooks.

The company is divided into teams where people perfectly see each other. If the business is built in a paradigm: the boss and numerous subordinates who are trying to deceive him, then it is very difficult to control the theft. And when there is a team of partners, they will quickly identify and get rid of a bum or a crook. This team picks up people and dismisses them. When we did not have such a system, but there were just managers with more authority, then there were problems. Often we are faced with a situation where the manager agrees with the manager and creates schemes with loans. Need cross-control and transparency.

Understand that hierarchy is a model of the last century. Man is a machine, and from it you need to squeeze the maximum. This is a destructive model. Traditionally it is believed that employees need diligence, professionalism and predictability. But this is important only in the sphere of commodity (raw materials, exchange commodities. - Approx. Ed.). And added value appears when employees have other qualities - initiative, creativity, passion. You have to earn these people to work for you. And money is not the main thing for them at all, for them the key value is freedom.

About business organization

A leader must be, but not a controller. Our business is arranged like the Internet. He who creates value, who earns money, is the leader. The hierarchy comes from below, not from above. No one can declare himself the head of the Internet, and in the Life group everything is exactly the same.

I am the main architect. My task is to set up a platform that allows people to earn money. As Mark Zuckerberg sets up his platform, so am I. All the time I screw up, finish writing, add something, so that people would get all the buzz. So that others do not overtake me. I am a shareholder, but not a bureaucrat.

In a crisis, it is more stable than the classical hierarchy, where people will hide problems to the last, so that their prizes are not deprived. It is necessary, however, to understand that I described the perfect picture. In reality, the Life group is somewhere in the middle. If you do an audit, then you will find with us many signs of a hierarchy and a typical Soviet organization. But the goal, if it can be realized at all in this country, is precisely this — the company must become completely flat.

About entrepreneurship and venture

We have only 150,000 business customers, which is more than any non-state bank in this country. We do not have much business in the country. We really did not go into the retail business with LifePad, but the b2b segment is growing. We are building a club.

- As an individual, are you ready to invest in Russian financial technologies?
- We have concluded that it is unprofitable. Business should be done not in the Russian Federation. All our successful investments were where we found advanced solutions in overseas markets. Everything that was invested here, everything turned out to be long-term. The venture business is built on the constant attraction of new investors, and inside the country there are none. In Russia, the venture business has died.

Venture fund should earn money. You can test something on the Life group, but the main task is to make money and attract new investors. But to develop such a model in Russia now is suicide.

Of course, the Life group as a strategic investor received some benefits from the venture business. For example, we were able to communicate with the Simple group, our competitor in the US market. There was a synergy. The best part is that we were able to earn more by selling a stake in Simple.

A crisis is always an opportunity to buy at the bottom. But I'm not sure that we are already at the bottom. Our strategy has been preserved, another thing is that free capital is needed for acquisitions, but now it is not there. So I do not exclude anything, but I do not plan either.