Sources of the Reuters news agency report that the European Central Bank is demanding from European banks to increase control over the operations of clients from Russia and Belarus. This measure will affect tens of thousands of Russians and Belarusians who are in Europe but are not included in the lists of sanctions.
The ECB is confident that this initiative will eliminate the possibility of circumventing sanctions restrictions. Banks will pay special attention to large payments, deposits and new loan applications.
The ECB started sending notices to European banks from late February to early March. They must implement the new control standards in one week. After this time, the regulator will initiate checks. A Reuters source notes that initially the measures were aimed at people with Russian citizenship, but later citizens of Belarus were added to them.
The representative of the ECB confirmed that the regulator controls whether banks have the necessary funds to implement the sanctions. Sanctions enforcement is outside the jurisdiction of the ECB, but supervisors have expressed concern that banks will be fined if their customers send money from names on the sanctions list.
The source of Reuters reports that one Spanish bank has already tightened control over the transactions of 8 thousand clients from Russia who did not fall under EU sanctions. For Russians in Spanish banks, loans without a confirmed residence permit are now temporarily unavailable. One credit institution banned non-residents from Russia from opening new accounts.
Similar measures were taken by Italian banks, tightening control over Russian clients residing in the state, who have more than €100,000 on their accounts.
bbabo.Net