Risks of Storing Money in External Accounts Highlighted by Central Bank

Moscow, May 11 – Holding money in foreign accounts carries increased risks for Russian citizens, according to the Financial Market Risk Review prepared by the Bank of Russia.

The regulator notes that as of 2022, individuals have significantly increased the amount of money sent to foreign banks and brokers. At the same time, there has recently been a tendency to impose restrictions on Russians in the use of banking and other financial services by organizations registered in other jurisdictions.

“Thus, there are blocking and / or closing of bank accounts (sometimes without prior notice), restrictions are imposed on money transfers, in general, banks apply more stringent compliance control measures in relation to clients from Russia. In addition to restrictions on money transactions, they were The actions of foreign organizations are sometimes aimed at limiting transactions with securities for Russians, ”the Central Bank reported.

First of all, according to the regulator, this tendency is shown by banks from the list of unfriendly countries (Switzerland, France, Cyprus), but in a number of not so unfriendly countries, individual financial institutions tighten checks for fear of the threat of secondary sanctions. On Russian customer service.