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- Cash transfer: banks exempted from massive fines for non-compliance with anti-fraud measures
Cash transfer: banks exempted from massive fines for non-compliance with anti-fraud measures
The Central Bank has temporarily exempted banks from punishment for non-compliance with new anti-fraud measures. We are talking about the requirements for cash withdrawals, which have been in effect since September of this year. For example, credit institutions should monitor frequent calls to customers several hours before they attempt to withdraw money. However, banks have many questions about the implementation of these rules. The hasty introduction of such measures may result in massive blocking of ATM operations, market participants warned in a letter to the regulator (Izvestia has it). The Central Bank reserves the right to fine individual players, but it will take into account the technological readiness of the company.
Why did the Central Bank postpone the introduction of penalties for banks
New rules for cash withdrawals have been in effect since September of this year. Before conducting such an operation, banks should check whether a person is under the influence of fraudsters, as well as whether a criminal is committing this action. The Central Bank has identified nine criteria for this.
Among them are more frequent phone conversations a few hours before trying to get money, and even performing an operation at an unusual time of day. As well as, for example, a request for disbursement of funds within 24 hours after receiving a loan. If the operation falls under these criteria, the bank must impose a 48-hour cash withdrawal limit on the client (no more than 50 thousand rubles).
However, banks have many questions about the implementation of these rules. For example, to analyze phone calls, credit institutions need data from telecom operators, messenger owners, or third-party processing centers. Obtaining this information is difficult or impossible without appropriate agreements, according to a letter from the Association of Banks of Russia (ADB), Izvestia has it.
They also noted that the Central Bank's instructions do not specify clear procedures. For example, it is unclear whether one feature is enough to block, several, or all of them are needed. If individual features are applied without a comprehensive analysis, customers may face a massive blockage of cash withdrawal operations, banks have warned.
In a response to the banks (Izvestia has it), the regulator said that "due to the complexity of the task and the limited time frame" for the introduction of new requirements, the Central Bank will not punish credit institutions for their violations for the time being. The moratorium is planned to be introduced by the end of the year, the Central Bank said at the time.
The decision on the application or non-application of measures of influence to banks by the end of the year will be made on a case-by-case basis, taking into account the actual circumstances, the regulator's press service told Izvestia. It will also take into account how much a financial institution is able to implement the features, they added.
Without delay, banks could face a whole combination of measures. Among them are fines, orders to eliminate violations, restrictions on operational activities, increased supervision and even the risk of license revocation in case of prolonged systematic violations, said Svetlana Akentieva, advisor to the corporate practice of Sokolov, Trusov and Partners Law Firm.
At the same time, the introduction of new measures is fraught with technical difficulties. Banks need to build analysis and decision-making processes, train employees, and develop new customer notification templates to explain the reasons for restrictions, she added.
After the New Year, the moratorium may be extended for another three to six months, Ekaterina Kosareva, managing partner of the analytical agency VMT Consult, admitted.
— This will allow the market to fine-tune the systems and reduce the risk of massive erroneous blocking of customer operations. A longer extension is possible only in case of detection of system failures or a sharp increase in complaints from citizens," she said.
The introduction of a moratorium is an established practice of the Bank of Russia, which allows credit institutions to refine their systems to implement the requirements of the regulator, said Alexander Abramov, Head of the Legal Department of the Association of Banks of Russia. According to him, this is a reasonable measure.
Moreover, this does not affect the activation of fraudulent schemes, experts say. It does not depend on the punishment of credit institutions, banks constantly monitor and improve their systems to ensure the security of payments and settlements of their customers, said Alexander Abramov.
Izvestia sent a request to the ARB and major financial organizations.
Cash Withdrawal Fraud
The bank has been recording the trend when fraudsters direct customers to ATMs to withdraw cash since last year, the Savings Bank told Izvestia. In this way, the attackers expect to bypass the banking system, believing that this channel is less secure compared to online transactions.
The growth has been observed since 2024, when financial organizations increased control over non-cash payments, Alla Khrapunova, deputy head of the Popular Front for Borrowers' Rights project and curator of the Moshelovka platform, agreed. Victims withdraw money borrowed, funds from the sale of real estate and other assets.
In the case when this happens in the bank's office, the essential work is carried out by the operational staff of the credit institution, she noted. However, the problem with ATMs is more serious, because here the victim is left alone with fraudsters, so setting withdrawal limits for suspicious transactions is a very correct step, the expert believes.
In addition, banks should not limit themselves to the signs of fraud that the Central Bank establishes. They should, among other things, monitor and suspend suspicious transactions themselves, guided by their own experience and knowledge of their clients, the Sbera press service told Izvestia.
They noted that the bank's fraud monitoring is integrated with the anti-fraud of mobile operators. This way, financial protection is enhanced if there is a suspicion that the client has received calls from fraudulent numbers.
— Now the main problem is to maintain a balance between the interests of trustworthy clients and reasonable security measures, — Ekaterina Kosareva from VMT Consult emphasized.
For example, if a customer used an unusual method of withdrawing cash (via QR or virtual card), this does not necessarily mean a fraudulent operation. After all, financial organizations are just developing their services for the convenience of users.
Therefore, banks should not just thoughtlessly block transactions, but build a competent dialogue with customers. In this case, the new measures can help reduce the number of frauds by 15-25%, said Denis Kalemberg, CEO of SafeTech Group. In 2024, the volume of transactions without the voluntary consent of customers increased by 74% compared to 2023, to 27.5 billion rubles, according to the Central Bank. At the same time, the volume of such prevented transactions in the third quarter of 2025 amounted to ₽3.51 trillion, which is ₽786 billion less than the average value for the previous four quarters.
Fully implementing the new system will not be easy, Ekaterina Kosareva believes. A complete upgrade of ATM software is needed. We will have to significantly change the fleet of devices. It is also difficult to organize interaction with telecom operators (for those banks that do not analyze calls yet). Serious IT integration will be required, the expert concluded.
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