The Central Bank of the Russian Federation proposed allowing bank accounts to be opened using standard biometrics, submitting them directly in the bank's application. This follows from the draft Main Directions for the Development of the Financial Market for 2027–2029. Currently, full remote service requires confirmed biometrics – a higher level.
If the approach is adopted, the last offline barrier will disappear: the client independently creates standard biometrics and undergoes onboarding remotely. This could trigger a market redistribution and a struggle to retain customers – similar to free transfers via SBP between one's own accounts.
The Central Bank is also considering allowing digital platforms to delegate interaction with the Unified Biometric System to banks. For credit organizations, this is another B2B role: not only selling products through platforms, but also becoming a regulated identification infrastructure layer for them. The UBS simultaneously becomes cheaper for attracting its own clients and transforms into a new service for external platforms.