The Central Bank recorded an increase in the number of one-day firms after the launch of the anti-money laundering platform

After the launch by the Central Bank (CB) of the Know Your Customer (KYC) anti-money laundering platform, about 1,000 companies began to open daily in Russia. This is 15% more than before the creation of the service, reported RBC Director of the Department of Financial Monitoring and Currency Control of the Central Bank Ilya Yasinsky. According to him, about half of the new firms account for the so-called fly-by-night.

“We understand that most of this increase comes from technical companies that are specifically created in order to fit into the system of conducting suspicious transactions. Every day we identify about 500 tech companies and individual entrepreneurs, which are immediately included in the red zone,” said Mr. Yasinsky.

He argues that the KYC reacts quickly to the appearance of one-nighters, and any of them can fall into the red zone even without financial transactions. Basically, the analysis pays attention to payment information, as well as affiliation with customers who have previously been seen conducting suspicious transactions.

“The KYC platform now identifies such companies almost in real time, but so far there is no mechanism that would not allow such companies to be registered again,” added Ilya Yasinsky.

At the end of March, the Central Bank informedthat the volume of suspicious transactions in the banking sector for 2022 amounted to 100 billion rubles, 5% less than a year earlier. According to the regulator, this was facilitated by the introduction of the KYC. As follows from the regulator’s reporting, the illegal withdrawal of funds abroad amounted to 36 billion rubles, which was the minimum figure for the entire monitoring period and 16% less than a year earlier.

Details – in the material “Kommersant” “Fulfilled – off the sheet”.

Laura Keffer