The Central Bank of Russia has recalled the licenses for banking operations from three banks as of August 24, 2006. The banks are CENTURION (Moscow), UNIVERBANK (Moscow) and FEDERAL INDUSTRIAL BANK (Moscow). According to the CBR, the first of the banks violated anti-monopoly legislation. From June 2005 to May 2006, bank clients transacted ’dubious’ operations involving the transfer of R5.5 billion funds abroad in favour of non-residents.
NIVERBANK, a member of the deposit insurance system, also permitted violations of anti-monopoly legislation and was involved in dubious operations. FEDERAL INDUSTRIAL BANK neither met in full requirements for client identification nor created adequate reserves for possible losses from loans. The bank’s activity is linked with handling clients’ payments with the aim of repatriating funds abroad, obviating mandatory customs procedures. From June 2005 to March 2006, the overall amount of the funds that were repatriated mainly to offshore zones totalled R31.5b, the CBR reported.
Source: WWW.NOVECON.RU, August 24, 2006
