1. List of controlled financial transactions is expanded
On January 10, changes to transactions with cash or other assets subject to mandatory control came into force. Now among other things the following transactions are subject to mandatory control:
• Operations for withdrawing or crediting cash funds to the account of a legal entity in the amount of RUB 600,000 or more (or the equivalent in a foreign currency), regardless of whether such operations are derived from the business activities of the company or not;
• Cash operations carried out under real estate transactions in the amount of RUB 3,000,000 or more (or the equivalent in foreign currency), regardless of the result of the transaction;
• Operations for crediting funds to the account (deposit) or debiting funds from the account (deposit) when making payments under a financial lease agreement, in the amount of RUB 600,000 or more (or the equivalent in foreign currency);
• Postal money transfer operations in the amount of RUB 100,000 or more (or the equivalent in a foreign currency).
2. List of persons and transactions to be submitted to the Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) is defined
Starting from January 10, in addition to credit institutions, the following persons must submit information to Rosfinmonitoring:
• Securities market professionals
• Investment platform operators
• Insurance organizations (except for health insurance organizations that operate exclusively in the field of compulsory health insurance) and insurance brokers
• Leasing companies
• Federal postal organizations
• Pawnshops
• Companies engaged in the purchase and sale of precious metals and precious stones, jewelry made of them and broken pieces of such products
• Gambling organizers
• Lottery companies
• Management companies of investment funds, mutual investment funds and non-state pension funds
• Payment processors
• Commercial companies that enter into factoring agreements as financial agents
• Consumer credit co-operatives
• Microlenders
• Mutual insurance associations
• Non-state pension funds
• Licensed independent providers of mobile telephone communication services, as well as telecom operators occupying an important position in the public communication network that are entitled to independently provide data communication services
• Financial platform operators
• Operators of information systems in which the digital financial assets are issued
• Digital financial asset exchange operators
The Federal law “On combating the legitimization (laundering) of illegally obtained proceeds and terrorism financing” establishes a list of relevant transactions with money or other property that are subject to mandatory control (clause 4 of article 6) to be reported by each of the listed persons.
3. Banks are required to inform their clients of the refusal to execute an operation or to enter into a bank account agreement
Starting from January 30, an organization that performs operations involving money or other assets shall provide the following information to its client when deciding to refuse to execute an operation or to refuse to enter into a bank account (deposit) agreement:
• Date of the decision
• Reasons for making the decision
In addition, the credit institution must provide the same information to the client when deciding to terminate the bank account (deposit) agreement if there are at least two negative decisions to execute the client’s order to perform the operation within a year.
The information is to be provided to the client within 5 business days from the date of the decision. The procedure for providing the information is determined in the agreement with the client or pursuant to the public rules of the credit institution.