PAO Sberbank of Russia failed to connect to the Central Bank of the Russian Federation's fast payment system by the Oct. 1 deadline set by the regulator for Russian systemically important lenders, Vedomosti reported.
The remaining 10 of Russia's systemically important banks are already connected to the system, with JSC Russian Agricultural Bank being the last to join, shortly before the Oct. 1 deadline, the newspaper noted. The system currently includes 19 banks. All lenders with a universal license will be required to join the fast payment system by Oct. 1, 2020.
Sberbank, in which the central bank has a controlling stake, could be fined by the regulator for its failure to connect to the system for an amount ranging between 0.1% and 1% of its authorized capital, or 1 million Russian rubles to 10 million rubles, Vedomosti noted in its Oct. 1 report.
The central bank intends to send Sberbank a formal request with instructions to eliminate the violations, news agency Prime reported the same day, citing the regulator's press office, which did not provide any information about potential fines.
Launched at the beginning of 2019, the Russian central bank's payment system allows individuals to make instant money transfers using mobile phone numbers and is perceived as an alternative to a similar system already developed by Sberbank. The latter opposed the launch of the central bank's system since the very beginning, criticizing the involvement of the state in a developing area as well as the legal obligation for banks to participate in the payment system, Vedomosti noted.
As of Sept. 30, US$1 was equivalent to 64.90 Russian rubles.
