The new requirements will cover cash deposits into accounts and conversion operations, the official said. The document is expected to be published in the near future, RBC reported.
The official, Shablya, said the regulator does not oppose cash as such but wants to stop the circulation of money of unidentified origin. According to him, shadow businesses use cash to bypass control procedures, and he sees the main risk in banks being used to legalize such funds.
"We call on banks not to formally check the sources of origin of financial standing, but to check substantively and not allow the legalization of funds," the official said. He specified that the document will adjust the typologies of suspicious operations.
According to Shablya, markets and illegal crypto exchangers most often turn out to be the source of questionable cash. In addition to the recommendations, the Central Bank intends to propose amendments to the anti-money-laundering law 115-FZ regarding the verification of sources of funds, The Moscow Times RU reported. The maximum punishment under this article is 7 years of imprisonment.
Data from the regulator shows that the outflow of money into cash has continued since March. Since the start of the year, the volume of cash in circulation has grown by about 2.5 trillion rubles, and by September 22 it had added more than another 380 billion rubles. According to calculations by The Moscow Times RU, the outflow amounted to 450 billion rubles in June, 620 billion in July, 434 billion in August, and another 380 billion in the first three weeks of September.
In May, the Central Bank already obligated banks to pay attention to clients who deposit cash too often. Enhanced control was introduced for those who deposit from 5 million rubles over 30 days or carry out from 10 operations of at least 100,000 rubles each. For companies and individual entrepreneurs, cash operations were recommended to be considered suspicious when depositing more than 30 million rubles over 30 days, if the sum significantly exceeds the business's turnover.
Sberbank previously linked increased demand for banknotes to businesses adapting to tax changes, The Insider writes. In August, in the first two weeks of the month alone, depositors withdrew 286.4 billion rubles from Russian banks amid fears of savings being seized.