On May 1, 2017, Federal Law No. 92-FZ came into force, according to which, from June 1 of this year, bank licenses are divided into universal and basic, depending on the amount of their capital.
According to this law, all operating Russian banks are recognized as banks with a universal license.
The general license of the bank is valid until the bank obtains a new license for banking operations. From January 1, 2018, the minimum capital of a bank with a universal license will be 1 billion rubles. The Central Bank will present requirements to such banks in full. The minimum capital for a bank with a basic license will be 300 million rubles.
With an increase in capital up to 1 billion rubles, a bank with a basic license has the right to ask the Central Bank to change the license to a universal one. Meanwhile, the capital limit for a bank with a basic license will be 3 billion rubles. Upon reaching this bar, the Central Bank will apply the requirements to the bank in full. All key operations for banks with a basic license will remain available.
They will be able to attract money from individuals and legal entities, open and maintain bank accounts, transfer money, buy and sell foreign currency, issue bank guarantees, provide money (loans) to individuals, small and medium-sized businesses, lend to Russian companies in that case if the maximum risk per one or a group of related borrowers does not exceed 20% of the bank's capital.
At the same time, such banks will still be limited in operations with foreign legal entities and individuals.
In particular, they will be prohibited from placing funds raised from such persons. It is also prohibited to issue bank guarantees against the funds of foreign legal entities and individuals. Banks with a basic license will not be able to attract precious metals into deposits, acquire rights of claim against foreign organizations, carry out leasing operations with them, and also issue guarantees to them.
Also, they will not be able to open accounts in foreign banks, with the exception of accounts opened to participate in a foreign payment system.
The bank account agreement with a foreign bank is subject to termination within a year from the date of acquisition of the status of a bank with a basic license. Banks with a basic license, when operating on the securities market, will be entitled to make transactions and transactions only with securities included in the first level quotation list, or with securities that meet the requirements of the Bank of Russia.
In return, banks with a basic license will receive simplified regulation from the Central Bank.
Such banks will be required to disclose annual and interim financial statements and auditor's reports, but will not be required to disclose information about the risks taken, risk assessment procedure, risk and capital management procedures. In their activities, unlike banks with a capital of more than 1 billion rubles, banks with a basic license will calculate only 5 mandatory ratios, which will significantly simplify their activities.
The law establishes that only banks with a universal license can, with the permission of the Central Bank, create branches and have subsidiaries abroad or open representative offices.
However, until January 1, 2019, banks with a capital of less than 1 billion rubles can, with the permission of the Central Bank, create branches and have subsidiaries abroad. The law defines the procedure for conducting banking operations and transactions by a bank that has changed the status of a bank with a universal license to the status of a bank with a basic license or a non-bank credit institution, under agreements concluded before the status change.
The new law actually divides the Russian banking system into three levels of regulation - from the most stringent for a dozen systemically important banks and credit institutions with a universal license to limited for banks with a basic license.
According to the Central Bank, 600 banks were operating in Russia as of May 1. About half of them now have capital above a billion rubles. According to Oleg Ivanov, vice-president of the Association of Regional Banks, about 260 banks fall under the criteria for a basic license, whose share in the assets of the entire sector is about 1.5 percent. “At the same time, only half of the banks with such a license will be in the regions, the second half - in Moscow. The most viable and in demand banks with a basic license will be in the regions,” he believes.
Category expert: Chairman of the Board of PJSC JSCB "Accent"
Danilochkin Maxim Vsevolodovich
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