The main theses of Sergey Leontyev in an interview with “The Secret of the Firm”

The Secret of the Company published a large-scale interview with co-owner of the Life group Sergey Leontyev.

Leont'ev - an informal banker, currently engaged in the creation of a women's bank “Let's go.” In the current environment, which in no way can be called "simple" for the financial industry, Sergey Leontyev is busy.

Megamind gives the most interesting quotes from the interview.

About banking in the past and present

There were a lot of challenges. The main problems are understandable - a drop in household incomes and a deterioration in the quality of the loan portfolio. The crisis continues and improvements are not yet visible. But back in 2013, we realized that growth would stop.

There are no plans or directives. We have many different businesses (7 banks, a factoring company and a venture fund, “The Secret”), but all follow common basic principles. The main one - 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 company's processes adapt to this idea. The manager may use scoring, but may not use it. This is not a technology issue. The question is, who is responsible and makes the final decision? A manager can give out 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 like this. If it is not built like that, then this is his problem.

The dominant model is now when formats are intertwined. Online banks test offices and go offline, offline, of course, go long and seriously online. And the symbiosis of channels turns out. For example, we created the “Button” service, where customers communicate only in chat. But this is also a personal relationship. Many clients thought that it was not their personal manager who was talking to them, 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 a.m. It is important.

About Bank24.ru

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

You can trust $ 10,000 to your friend, but don’t trust $ 50,000 and the car. Well, you know, for example, that he will go to the casino, he will lose everything and he will break the car. There are different circumstances. Trust must be earned.

About the entrepreneurship of employees

Of course, in Russia there is a certain specificity. Since childhood, we have been living in a system of double standards - we are, and there are them, we must be honest with our own people, and with strangers - according to the circumstances. People get used to this ideology. But Russians are far from all thieves. And we at 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 appeared, then get rid of quickly. I am convinced that in this country it is possible to create a business based on trust, and not bureaucratic control.

It’s like in a war - yes, authoritarian regimes have some advantage, they can quickly mobilize the army. But the United States, for example, is doing well in military operations. Democratic regimes allow the normal organization of processes. To reduce our values ​​to one word is “freedom”. We need people who value freedom. And then we filter the crooks.

The company is divided into teams where people see each other perfectly. 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 theft. And when there is a team of partners, they will quickly identify and get rid of a loafer or a scammer. This team picks up people and fires them. When we did not have such a system, and there were just managers with great authority, then there were problems. Often we were faced with a situation where the manager agrees with the manager and creates schemes with loans. Cross control and transparency are needed.

Understand that hierarchy is a model of the century before last. Man is a machine, and you need to squeeze the most out of it. This is a destructive model. It is traditionally believed that employees need diligence, professionalism and predictability. But this is important only in the field of commodity (raw materials, exchange goods. - Approx. Ed.). And added value appears when employees have other qualities - initiative, creativity, passion. You must 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 should be, but not a controller. Our business is organized like the Internet. Who creates value, who makes money, is the leader. The hierarchy goes 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 chief 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 spin, add, add something, so that people get more buzzing. 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 until the last will hide problems so that their prizes are not deprived. True, you need to understand that I described the perfect picture. In reality, the Life group is somewhere in between. If you do an audit, you will find many signs of hierarchy and a typical soviet organization. But the goal, if it can be realized at all in this country, is just that - the company should become absolutely flat.

About entrepreneurship and venture

We have only 150,000 business clients - this is more than any non-governmental bank in this country. We don’t have much business in the country at all. We really did not go into the retail business with LifePad, but the b2b segment is growing. We are building a club.

- As a private person, are you ready to invest in Russian financial technologies?
- We came to the conclusion that this is unprofitable. Business must be done not in the Russian Federation. All our successful investments were where we found advanced solutions in foreign markets. Everything that was invested here, everything turned out to be long-term. Venture business is built on the constant attraction of new investors, but they are not inside the country. In Russia, the venture capital business has died.

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

Of course, Life Group as a strategic investor received some benefits from the venture capital business. For example, we were able to communicate with the Simple group, our competitor in the American market. There was synergy. The best part is, we were also able to earn on the sale of shares in Simple.

A crisis is always an opportunity to buy at the bottom. But something I'm not sure that we are already at the bottom. Our strategy has been preserved, it’s another matter that acquisitions need free capital, but now it is not. So I do not exclude anything, but also do not plan.