RUSSIA, Sept. 3, 2014 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Payment System "LEADER International Money Transfers" and QIWI plc (Nasdaq:QIWI) (MOEX:QIWI) announced today launch of the partnership which will allow Leader's clients in Russia to make money remittances within Russia and abroad to Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Ukraine, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, and Tajikistan using QIWI kiosks and Visa QIWI Wallet interface.

"QIWI payment tools are widely available all over Russia, which offers customers many more opportunities to transfer money via LEADER Payment System. From now on, you only need to input the required details at any of over 100,000 QIWI self-service kiosks or at Visa QIWI Wallet website or mobile application, and the money will be available for withdrawal in just 15 minutes. All the recipient has to do is show the ID at one of the Leader's partner banks and get the cash," says Anna Stoklitskaya, Managing Director of QIWI Group.

The LEADER System button is located in the "Money Transfers" page of the QIWI self-service kiosks and in Visa QIWI Wallet interface menu. To complete the transfer, the customer is required to provide details of the sender as well as those of the recipient, i.e. their full names, nationality and the remittance amount. The transfer process, from sending to withdrawal, takes 15 minutes at most. The sender is identified according to applicable Russian law.

"We are looking to increase the number of remittance points. Our partnership with QIWI will provide our customers with convenient 24/7 money transfer services. That would be an ideal solution for people whose business hours are different from Leader's partner banks' working hours," says Sergey Bludov, Chairman of the LEADER Management Board.

About QIWI

QIWI is a leading provider of next generation payment services in Russia and the CIS. It has an integrated proprietary network that enables payment services across physical, online and mobile channels. It has deployed over 15.8 million virtual wallets, over 171,000 kiosks and terminals, and enabled merchants to accept over RUB 50 billion cash and electronic payments monthly from over 70 million consumers using its network at least once a month. QIWI's consumers can use cash, stored value and other electronic payment methods to order and pay for goods and services across physical or online environments interchangeably.

About Leader

Leader Payment System has been operating on the financial market since 2003 and has become one of the leading Russian payment systems. Leader offers its clients a vast range of products and services as money transfers, mobile payments, loan and fine repayments, utility payments etc. All mentioned above services are available through banking partners and payment kiosks. Being an innovation-driven company, Leader Payment System actively introduces modern and progressive online payment solutions such as LeoMoney E-wallet and PayStore payment platform. Leader System has representatives in 130 countries with more than 130,000 agent locations.

CONTACT: Yakov Barinskiy

         Head of Corporate Development

         and Investor Relations

         +7.499.709.0192

         ir@qiwi.com

         

         Varvara Kiseleva

         Investor Relations

         +7.499.709.0192

         ir@qiwi.com

LEADER and QIWI Group Announce Launch of Partnership