Before the license was revoked five times by the Central Bank measures implemented Including QIWI Bank imposing two restrictions on certain transactions. That’s why last summer, in accordance with the regulator’s instructions, the financial institution had to partially limit individuals’ withdrawals from wallets to bank accounts and cash withdrawals.
The Central Bank explained that the bank’s activities are often associated with “shadow trading, including fund transfers in favor of crypto exchanges, illegal online casinos and bookmakers.”
The regulator noted cases where Qiwi wallets were opened using citizens’ personal data without their knowledge. The Central Bank of Russia sent data on illegal transactions and circumvention of anti-terrorism requirements to law enforcement agencies.
The press service of the Central Bank of socialbites.ca has not yet made any additional comments after the cancellation of the credit institution’s license.
What should investors do?
With information The Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA) will begin paying deposit insurance compensation to bank depositors (up to 1.4 million rubles for 100% of deposits deposited in the bank) no later than March 6, 2024. The preliminary amount of insurance payments is estimated as follows: RUB 4.6 billion Those who deposit money into deposit and current accounts of a financial institution will receive insurance compensation.
“Interest on deposits is calculated according to the terms of each bank deposit (account) agreement on the date of the insured event. In the DIA statement, deposits in foreign currency are included in the calculation of compensation at the rate determined by the Bank of Russia on the day the insured event occurred.
Maxim Osadchiy, head of the analytical department of Corporate Finance Bank, analyzed the report of QIWI bank on the Central Bank website for socialbites.ca:
“As of January 1, 2024, individuals’ deposits amounted to only 11 thousand rubles. Balances in current accounts of individuals did not exceed 8.4 billion rubles as of this date. It is not possible to say anything more definitively because the reporting is extremely aggregated. (summarized – “socialbites.ca”)“
In the current situation, depositors must apply to agency banks appointed by DIA for insurance compensation. It is better to have a bank deposit agreement with you, as well as screenshots from the bank’s mobile application showing the amount of savings.
What should wallet owners do?
Russians used Qiwi wallets to pay for services, including from abroad, and used them to replenish the balance of a number of services leaving the Russian Federation (Apple subscriptions, Steam gaming platform wallet and others).
The Contact payment system used in QIWI services has already stopped working. It is now also impossible to top up a Qiwi wallet and withdraw money from it.
The Central Bank of the Russian Federation said that deposit insurance does not apply to funds in electronic wallets after the license from a financial institution was canceled and problems arose in withdrawing money from wallet users.
“As of January 1, 2024, the amount of balance in wallets was approximately 4.9 billion rubles, that is, an average of 355 rubles per wallet. “There were 13.8 million active wallets in total,” Osadchiy calculated.
Candidate of Economic Sciences, Director of the Federal Financial Literacy Methodological Center, Associate Professor at the Department of Global Financial Markets and Fintech at the Russian University of Economics. GV Plekhanov Denis Perepelitsa told socialbites.ca that most likely it will not be possible to withdraw money from the wallets of the owners:
“On the recommendation of the Central Bank of Russia, it is necessary to contact the DIA. “The money will most likely not be returned, but it is worth trying to align with creditors and it will be possible to repay some of the funds once their demands are met.”
At the same time, he added that QIWI Bank borrowers must repay their loans because their right to request loans has been transferred to DIA and unpaid debts will be collected in court.
What made QIWI bank different?
Economist Vladimir Rozhankovsky, General Director of Trade123, a client of QIWI Bank, hopes that the wallets that are currently not working are a temporary measure, because QIWI “always emerged safely” from difficult situations.
“This is one of the few stories that somehow worked and made it possible for the Russian Federation to make payments, including to countries that we call hostile places of residence. The economist noted that this is important in the context of sanctions, where banks experience very complex problems with international transactions, plastic cards do not work almost anywhere outside Russia.
According to him, in this case, “cutting the branch where the last banks that miraculously have not yet entered the sanctions list sit” allows you to “put a D on the Central Bank report card.” .”
The economist admitted that QIWI Bank may have opened a wallet without permission, and that the Central Bank “received certain information, a certain signal, and based on this signal, the license of a reputable organization was revoked.”
He urged Russians not to panic and to apply to the Central Bank:
“I ask everyone affected by this situation to make a personal application to the Central Bank, these applications are generally always accepted and junior officials of the Central Bank are obliged to respond to them, otherwise these complaints can also be forwarded through the public services portal, but I hope that is the case “The main task now is to write a complaint on the Central Bank’s website, wait for a response to the complaints, and wait for new information.”