Antitrust wants to punish banks for “anti-laundering” fees

MOSCOW, Dec 18 (PRIME) -- Russia’s Federal Antimonopoly Service wants to punish banks that apply progressive fees for payments of money to accounts of individuals from corporate accounts and accounts of individual entrepreneurs using the anti–money laundering legislation as a pretext, a spokesperson for the service told PRIME on Wednesday.

The service also said that banks also tend to levy high commissions for withdrawal of funds when closing a client’s account.

“This does not only trigger displeasure among the consumers, but also serious concern of the service over the economic grounds, legality, and efficiency of these so-called ‘anti-laundering’ tariffs,” the spokesperson said.

“The service is considering application of antimonopoly regulations.”

Another way to solve the problem is to change banking legislation and money legalization laws. The service initiated discussion of the problem with the relevant agencies and the central bank, the spokesperson said.

In November, State Duma Deputy Vladislav Reznik asked the service to check the methods used by the central bank and large banks to fight money laundering. The only legal act here is the law on fighting money laundering and terrorism financing, which allows banks to reject clients and terminate banking accounts.

Reznik’s analysis showed that the largest banks, including Sberbank, VTB Bank and Alfa-Bank, set tariffs of 1–12% of each transaction, when a company pays money to an individual, while a transaction between companies can cost only dozens of rubles regardless of its amount. The banks also set fees of up to 10-30% of the sum for withdrawal of money from a corporate account if a company closes the account.

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