The Ministry of Finance is ready to simplify foreign banks to open branches in the Russian Federation
The Ministry of Finance proposed to expand the capabilities of branches of foreign banks in the Russian Federation and radically reduce the entrance threshold. Opening their legislative opportunity appeared in the fall of last year, but no one used it. The idea of the ministry is to allow such branches to work with individuals and expand the list of available operations in the securities market. According to experts, these are significant concessions, but while Russia is under hard sanctions, it is not worth waiting for the mass parish of foreigners.
The fact that the Ministry of Finance has prepared a bill that changes the procedure and capabilities of the branches of foreign banks in the Russian Federation, told Interfax with reference to its own sources. The ministry proposes to radically reduce the cash threshold to open a branch of a foreign bank. According to the law adopted last year (he entered into force on September 1, 2024), to open a branch in the Russian Federation, it is necessary to open a minimum warranty deposit in the Bank of Russia in the amount of at least 1 billion rubles. The bill is proposed to reduce the amount of the minimum warranty deposit to 90 million rubles.
The Bank of Russia supports the proposal to establish the size of the warranty of the deposit at the level of 90 million rubles. This is the minimum size of the warranty deposit. At the same time, the law establishes the requirement for the total size of the warranty deposit, which includes the minimum warranty deposit and the estimated warranty deposit. The total size of the guarantee of the deposit should ensure that the branch complies with the mandatory standards established by the Central Bank, emphasized there.
So far, there were no precedents for the opening of branches of foreign banks in Russia. “The inconsistency of these requirements was confirmed by the expectations of foreign banks ready to carry out operations in the Russian Federation through their branches,” said Roman Prokhorov, deputy chairman of the Council of Commerce of the Russian Federation for the financial, industrial and investment policy.
The Ministry of Finance also proposes to remove the ban on the opening and maintaining of individuals for the branches of foreign banks, to give the right to work with precious metals. If there is a request, the branch will be able to open and keep accounts of legal entities and individuals in precious metals, engage in transfers on behalf of individuals and legal entities, including corresponding banks, according to their banking accounts in precious metals. The project also amends the law “On the Securities Market”, which enable foreign banks working in the Russian Federation through their branches to carry out dealerships through them.
The Ministry of Finance did not respond to the request “Kommersant”.
Experts believe that the initiative of the Ministry of Finance will attract additional capital from friendly countries and create alternative calculation channels. According to Pavel Samiev, general director of the business agency, “emphasis on possible partnership financing works means that first of all, they can become interested in the banks of the friendly countries of Asia and the Middle East and after expanding the list of possible operations and it will be more economically advisable to work in Russia.”
However, the interlocutor of Kommersant in the financial market does not hide that « the realities are such that, while the sanctions are on the spot, there will be no queue for the entrance. » “You need to understand that in current conditions it is hardly worth expecting the queues from such banks, and also to assume that these will be large and famous banks. The risks of secondary sanctions on the basis of the assistance of the Russian Federation in bypassing sanctions are not comparable for such banks with possible beneficiaries from transactions in the Russian Federation, ”Mr. Prokhorov agrees.“ Therefore, the task is to create the most preferential conditions for banks that are ready to open branches in the Russian Federation ”. The bill of the Ministry of Finance is aimed at solving this problem. At the same time, with all the liberalizing role of this bill, potential interests – foreign credit organizations will most likely expect a progress of the situation with peaceful negotiations, since the announced tightening of the sanctions regime during the disruption of negotiations clearly does not contribute to the decision to open a branch in the Russian Federation, Mr. Prokhorov concludes.
