Deputies have proposed tightening the responsibility of banking agents. As of July 2025, there are 685 payment operators in the Central Bank's register. The authors of the bill claim that the new amendments will not affect the development of financial services in small settlements. But is that really the case?
BPA are organizations or entrepreneurs who, under an agreement with banks, accept and issue cash, carry out transfers and payments for services (housing and communal services, Internet, mobile communications), and help clients pay off loans or open electronic wallets. They act as intermediaries between the bank and the client, especially in places where there are no bank offices or ATMs. The simplest examples are Euroset and Svyaznoy, QIWI terminals, Russian Post, and Zolotaya Korona.
The initiative was presented as another measure to combat "drop men", but "drop men" in the BPA sphere have already been so "strangled" by the BPAs themselves that the remaining "drops" will simply flow into the banking system, experts say.
BPAs were generally a noticeable tool for transferring "dirty" money during the active and widespread use of "Yandex Money" and "QIWI". Even shortly before Yandex was renamed YMoney, the service began blocking users for any noticeable amounts of transfers, and this happened back in 2020. QIWI Bank's license was revoked on February 21, 2024, after which a limit was set on withdrawing funds from the wallet at 1,000 rubles per month. The remaining services were either not used at all, or the percentage of funds passing through them was so small that it is not worth mentioning.
A more compromise option would be to analyze what operations BPAs conduct and how the market may change in connection with the upcoming ban. Also, a good alternative could be not to ban simplified identification, but, on the contrary, to strengthen it, for example, through the "Gosuslugi" service or identification through "Sber ID" or "T‑ID" (formerly Tinkoff-ID).
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