The Russian Banking Association, known as ADB, has not supported a proposed bill that would grant law enforcement agencies direct access to banks’ information systems and databases containing customer data. This stance is reported by RBC, referencing a letter sent to the Ministry of Digital Development of the ADB and to Alexander Khinshtein, who chairs the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies and Communications.
In the association’s formal objection, the bill is said to generate a host of legal conflicts and would clash with existing laws. The letter argues that approving the measure could infringe upon the constitutional rights of Russians by allowing intelligence services unrestricted access to personal information held by banks.
According to the objection, banks would be required to provide access to personal data without the customer’s consent and without a court order. The document notes that current anti-money laundering legislation already obliges banks to share data on customer transactions at the request of Rosfinmonitoring, the federal financial intelligence agency. The ADB questions how this could be reconciled with a framework where intelligence agencies could independently alter or erase information about bank employees without notifying credit bureaus.
Bankers also express concern that unlimited and unregulated access by intelligence services could threaten information security. They warn this could disrupt database operations and allow information to be transferred to third parties. There could be broader technological risks as well. For instance, if process-critical data is mischanged, banks might struggle to meet their obligations to customers and maintain service reliability.
It has been noted that the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia is working on amendments to the law On Operational Investigative Activities. These proposed changes would enable synchronization of information transmitted online with data needed for investigative actions, a move that underscores growing interest in data sharing for security purposes while raising questions about oversight and privacy protections.