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Russia’s financial watchdog rejects reports on banking sanctions against 41 countries

The Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday, citing a letter of Russia’s financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, that the institution is introducing control over banking operations involving 41 countries

© ITAR-TASS/Stanislav Krasilnkikov

MOSCOW, April 20. /TASS/. Russia’s financial watchdog, Rosfinmonitoring, rejected media reports on Monday that banks are to inform the service on transactions involving the residents of countries put on a newly-introduced list.

"We deny that there exists any list of countries and that the banks have to inform Rosfinmonitoring on the transactions of their residents," the press service of the watchdog said.

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Russia starts controlling banking operations involving 41 countries — media

The Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) acknowledged that it issued a letter on April 1 that includes recommendations on devising criteria on detecting and defining the signs of unusual deals but said this refers to non-credit financial organizations rather than to banks.

"For banks, there is a respective regulation of the Bank of Russia," the press service of Rosfinmonitoring said.

The Izvestia newspaper reported on Monday citing a Rosfinmonitoring letter that banks are to immediately inform the service about the transactions of their clients, both individuals and companies, who are the residents of the US, Canada, the EU (28 countries), Australia, Norway, Iran, Syria, Sudan, New Zealand, Argentina, Mexico, Switzerland, North Korea and Jamaica.

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