CBR has not yet seen applications from foreign banks to return to Russia, remaining banks have significantly reduced activity - Nabiullina

ST. PETERSBURG. July 3 (Interfax) - The Central Bank of Russia has not seen any applications by foreign banks to return to Russia, and the ones remaining have significantly reduced their activity, CBR Governor Elvira Nabiullina told journalists.

"We have not yet seen any applications [to return to Russia]. In terms of foreign banks' operations, we are seeing these significantly reduced in the large banks with foreign capital which have stayed here," she said.

Nabiullina said in April that there were ongoing negotiations with foreign banks on opening branches in Russia, but that it was too early to publicize any information on this.

First Deputy Governor of the CBR Vladimir Chistyukhin said on July 3 that the regulator backed the draft bill put together by the Finance Ministry to relax the requirements for foreign banks to open branches in Russia and extend the list of transactions which they can perform. "Fundamentally, we support this; branches of foreign banks from friendly countries are something that we need today - our financial market would benefit," Chistyukhin said.

The bill, which allows foreign banks to open branches in Russia, came into effect on September 1, 2024. It currently only permits the branches to work with legal entities and prohibits transactions with private individuals and individual entrepreneurs, with the exception of money transfers which do not involve opening a bank account and the purchase and sale of foreign currency. To date, no foreign banks have made use of the opportunity.