At its plenary session on April 21, the State Duma adopted in the third reading a draft law on the division of banks in terms of permitted operations depending on their license. The bill was approved unanimously.
The draft law was worked out on the basis of the Bank of Russia's idea of proportional regulation of the banking sector. It is proposed to divide banks in lending institutions with basic and universal licenses.
To obtain a basic license, requirements for minimum capital will remain at the current level of Rub 300 mln, and maximum capital will be limited to Rub 3 bln. For the purpose of a universal license, capital should be at least Rub 1 bln. the Bank of Russia is intended to start issuing universal and basic licenses effective January 1, 2018.
Overall, banks that will be granted a basic license will operate as they are doing now. They will see softer supervision in terms of quantity of required ratios in exchange for the limited number of operations.
The draft law was adopted in the first reading in late February. By the second reading it was amended, prohibiting banks with basic licenses from opening correspondent accounts at foreign banks and limiting risks to a borrower or a group of borrowers at 20% of equity. According to the new edition of the law, banks with basic licenses will be released from the obligation to report to the Bank of Russia about acceptable risks, risk assessment procedures, and those of risk and capital management.
