Russian banks have until the end of November to strengthen control over their clients’ transactions. The requirement is part of the government’s roadmap, which instructs the Central Bank to combat illegal transactions, Izvestia reported with reference to the roadmap.
The Central Bank of Russia and the country’s financial sector have learned their lessons from previous incidents.
Until recently, banks have often blocked various transactions citing the illegal income bill, says Artyom Deyev, head of analytics at AMarkets. The new regulations will be drawn up very meticulously to avoid blocking on a massive scale.
“We should not forget that Central Bank regulations also include instructions and criteria for identifying illegal activity, signs that may potentially indicate the concealment of income. This means the bank will have a rules-based strategy to assess a money transfer before making the decision to decline it. This way they will expose various shadow business schemes with high probability. The new rules will not affect individuals or businesses in any way,” the expert believes.