Financial institution Rocketbank makes its comeback to the economic arena
Soviet commercial bank Sovcombank has announced plans to relaunch Rocketbank, a digital bank that ceased operations in 2021, as an independent brand. The new venture will operate on Sovcombank's license and be led by Anton Zaharov and Robert Sabiryanov, co-founders of Bank "Blank" and former top managers of Modulbank.
The updated Raketas team will focus on serving individual clients, offering financial products such as debit cards, deposits, savings accounts, cash loans, and credit cards. The bank aims to launch in Moscow and St. Petersburg in July 2025, with testing of the application set to begin in June by inviting a group of former clients.
A cryptic post with the message "Oh yeah" appeared in the Rocketbank Telegram channel in late May, which had not seen any new content since spring 2020. This post, referencing a popular meme, prompted hopeful comments from users anticipating a relaunch.
In November 2024, sources told Kommersant that Sovcombank had purchased the fintech platform "Rocket" (formerly operating under the Rocketbank brand on Qiwi Bank's license). The platform is expected to change its name to Raketas and operate as a separate business, initially under Sovcombank's license, and later possibly securing its own license.
The Rocketbank platform was shut down in 2019 due to a mismatch between its business plan and Qiwi's risk appetite, along with limited synergies, as stated in the organization's message. Attempts to sell the bank were unsuccessful, and it eventually stopped accepting new clients and increased tariffs in March 2020 before ceasing operations entirely in 2021.
Stay tuned for further developments and official announcements regarding the Raketas relaunch and any updates on the regional launch plans. The latest news can be found on our Telegram channel @expert_mag.
The new venture, Raketas, will focus on providing financial services in the banking-and-insurance industry, offering products like debit cards, deposits, savings accounts, and loans to individual clients. As the relaunch date nears in July 2025, the updated team is expected to obtain a license from Sovcombank, just as they did with the purchased fintech platform, which was formerly known as Rocketbank.
