News: Disclosure of banking secrecy in Russian Federation

The possibility of disclosure of banking secrecy when investigating cases concerning dissipating of assets is being worked out by the Central Bank of the Russian Federation

Important notice: Law&Trust no longer work in Russia. Transfer of operational control over Law&Trust in Russia to local management and the formation of the LegalCraft brand was started in 2022 and came into effect in October 2024.

Elvira Nabiullina, the head of the Central Bank, stated regarding consideration of the possibility of disclosure of bank secrecy for the investigation of cases involving dissipating of assets.

She also focused attention on the fact that corresponding mechanism would require amendments to the current legislation.  

The head of the Central Bank considers that furnishing such information to law enforcement agencies is a step towards effective combating dishonest bankers.

"The mechanism that we have currently started to work at and which also requires amendments to the legislation: the reference of information constituting bank secrecy to the law enforcement agencies.

Now, when we detect fraudulent activities in banks, dissipating of assets, we convey the materials to the law enforcement agencies. However, we have no right to furnish information constituting bank secrecy, although dissipating of assets is, for example, often associated with the use of accounts of bogus affiliated companies.

This circumstance limits the scope of capacity of law enforcement agencies in establishing essential elements of offence and determining suspects, "- Elvira Nabiullina said.

Currently, the Central Bank has a very limited (in terms of formal criteria) list of situations in which supervisory interference is possible. As a consequence, dishonest bankers are not afraid of the law and being punished.

Additionally, the Central Bank considers such option as amending the legislation that would enable to bring to book the management of the banks for the falsification of reporting.

You can clarify more detailed information regarding this issue by applying for consultation of the lawyers of Law&Trust International by phone, chat, or during personal conversation.