Bank of Russia to Increase Oversight of Card-to-Card Transfers

The Bank of Russia is set to strengthen its oversight of card-to-card money transfers. According to a report by Kommersant, the Central Bank has sent a request to payment market participants, asking them to provide data by October 18 on how they detect so-called “dropper” operations, particularly those involving card-to-card transfers.

In this context, “droppers” refer to individuals or companies whose accounts receive funds of suspicious origin or money that has been stolen. The regulator is requiring banks to specify the restrictions, limits, and monitoring parameters they use for such transfers. Additionally, the Central Bank has requested a registry of these operations and the commission amounts charged for them.

A representative of the regulator noted that card-to-card transfers make up a significant portion of the payment market, and the volume of such transactions continues to grow steadily. The Central Bank emphasized, “There is no goal to minimize the volume of transactions. The purpose of working with market participants is to study their risk management activities.”

The Bank of Russia plans to identify best practices and, if necessary, prepare recommendations for banks.

Industry Response and Fraud Concerns

Alexander Pogudin, a board member of RNKO “Payment Center,” stated that they have decided to stop offering card-to-card transfer services on all their online platforms. He explained that there are no effective methods for monitoring card-to-card operations when the service is provided to external clients.

Evgeny Tsarev, managing partner at RTM Group, confirmed that card-to-card transfers are indeed used for fraudulent activities. He noted that the alternative method of transferring funds through the Central Bank’s Fast Payment System is different in its architecture, making it much easier for the Central Bank to monitor the movement of money between individuals.

It is worth noting that links to websites with instructions for droppers (for example, 1, 2) are regularly added to the list of blocked sites by various government agencies, including the Federal Tax Service (for gambling), the Ministry of Internal Affairs (for drugs), and the courts.

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