From September 1, a law comes into force in Russia allowing foreign banks to open their branches in the country. The first branches to open in Russia will be banks from countries with which close economic ties have already been established, such as Belarus, Kazakhstan, the Middle East, China and India. This was announced by Petr Shcherbachenko, Associate Professor at the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation.
The expert noted that the appearance of branches of foreign banks will greatly simplify international payments and expand the access of Russian companies to international financial services, which is especially important against the background of the current sanctions. This will also make the Russian market more attractive to foreign financial institutions, contributing to attracting foreign investment and strengthening cooperation with friendly states.
The branches will be limited in their functions: they are allowed to carry out operations with legal entities, such as money transfers, collection and foreign exchange transactions, but they will not be able to work with individuals (with the exception of the purchase and sale of currency and transfers without opening accounts), attract deposits, engage in operations with precious metals and insurance. The Bank of Russia will monitor their activities.
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