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End of amnesty: will the banks freeze deposits?
04.04.2016
Capital amnesty in Russia was extended for half a year: until July 1, 2016. The latest amendments to the corresponding law (140-ФЗ) clarify and simplify the rules for repatriation of foreign assets: it will be compulsory only for money. Senior lawyer of YUST Law Firm Alexander Rudyakov shared his opinion with Bankir.ru portal: "Since January 1 the control of banking operations concerning individuals will be tightened. According to sub-paragraph 1.1, paragraph 1, article 7 of the federal law of August 7 2001 No. 115-ФЗ, banks are entitled to adopt reasonable and accessible measures in the existing circumstances to detect sources of money and (or) other property of their clients. In fact, this provision grants a right to the banks to request any documents concerning any operations. Why? Because from the point of view of this law the corresponding request will be reasonable if the bank suspects that the operation is carried out for the purposes of money laundering or financing terrorism. These suspicions may arise at any time - it will depend on internal regulations of the certain bank. This conclusion is supported by the position of the Bank of Russia, expressed in the letter of the Bank of Russia of August 4, 2015 No. 12-1-5/1818. The client may certainly refuse to provide the requested documents, but in this case the bank will be entitled to deny the operation to the client based on paragraph 1, article 7 of the aforementioned law. According to paragraph 12, article 7 of this law the bank will not be responsible for breach of contract with the client. It should be mentioned that denial may apply not only to money transfer operations, but also to deposit (unlikely) and repayment operations. Despite the responsibility of banks to return the deposit at the client’s immediate request provided by paragraph 2, article 837 of the Civil Code, the provisions of the federal law of August 7, 2001 will prevail.
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Capital amnesty in Russia was extended for half a year: until July 1, 2016. The latest amendments to the corresponding law (140-ФЗ) clarify and simplify the rules for repatriation of foreign assets: it will be compulsory only for money. Senior lawyer of YUST Law Firm Alexander Rudyakov shared his opinion with Bankir.ru portal: "Since January 1 the control of banking operations concerning individuals will be tightened. According to sub-paragraph 1.1, paragraph 1, article 7 of the federal law of August 7 2001 No. 115-ФЗ, banks are entitled to adopt reasonable and accessible measures in the existing circumstances to detect sources of money and (or) other property of their clients. In fact, this provision grants a right to the banks to request any documents concerning any operations. Why? Because from the point of view of this law the corresponding request will be reasonable if the bank suspects that the operation is carried out for the purposes of money laundering or financing terrorism. These suspicions may arise at any time - it will depend on internal regulations of the certain bank. This conclusion is supported by the position of the Bank of Russia, expressed in the letter of the Bank of Russia of August 4, 2015 No. 12-1-5/1818. The client may certainly refuse to provide the requested documents, but in this case the bank will be entitled to deny the operation to the client based on paragraph 1, article 7 of the aforementioned law. According to paragraph 12, article 7 of this law the bank will not be responsible for breach of contract with the client. It should be mentioned that denial may apply not only to money transfer operations, but also to deposit (unlikely) and repayment operations. Despite the responsibility of banks to return the deposit at the client’s immediate request provided by paragraph 2, article 837 of the Civil Code, the provisions of the federal law of August 7, 2001 will prevail.Read more
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