Russian companies and individual entrepreneurs added to the Central Bank’s list of “suspicious clients” are being forced to liquidate en masse and re-register, according to the magazine RBC.
Some entrepreneurs are reportedly re-registering their businesses in the names of relatives or friends, because many banks are refusing to work with companies whose founders previously appeared on the Central Bank’s blacklist.
A sharp rise in re-registrations has been evident in statistics released by Russia’s Federal Tax Service since October, a few months after the Central Bank started distributing its list of suspicious clients.
The Central Bank’s “suspicious clients” list includes the names of companies and businesspeople denied bank services due to concerns that they’ve violated Russia’s laws on money laundering and financing terrorism.
Landing on the “suspicious clients” list effectively cuts off businesses’ access to banking services. Banks do not explain to businesses why they’ve been blacklisted, however, and companies are not warned about possible violations of money laundering laws. There is currently no way to contest being blacklisted, but financial authorities in the Russian government have prepared legislation to introduce an appeals process.
According to the newspaper Kommersant, there were roughly 200,000 businesses and entrepreneurs on the Central Bank’s list in June. By October, the list had grown to 460,000 companies and businesspeople.