Amendments on remote identification by banks and blockchain platforms of foreign clients adopted

The State Duma adopted in the third reading law, which allows Russian banks and platforms for the issuance of digital financial assets to instruct foreign credit institutions to identify foreign clients. The government, in agreement with the FSB and the Central Bank, will approve the list of states whose residents will be able to carry out remote identification in Russia.

Amendments are being made to the law on combating money laundering. The authors, Anatoly Aksakov, head of the Financial Market Committee, and Nikolai Zhuravlev, Deputy Chairman of the Federation Council, believe that the new rule will simplify the servicing of foreign persons under the sanctions policy. The explanatory note stated that foreign citizens planning trips to Russia were cut off from the Russian banking infrastructure.

Initially, it was assumed that only Russian organizations would receive permission to remotely identify foreign clients. Subsequently, the list was expanded to include, in particular, professional participants in the securities market, investment platform operators, management companies of investment funds.

In addition, the law assumes that transactions in the amount of 50 thousand rubles. or more are subject to mandatory control if they are committed on behalf of a foreign citizen. When commissioned by a foreign legal entity, the control threshold is set at 500,000 rubles. (subject to remote identification).