Banks in Kazakhstan and Other EAEU Countries Tighten Rules on Cash Ruble Deposits

Banks in Kazakhstan, Belarus, Kyrgyzstan and Armenia have started tightening conditions for accepting cash Russian rubles. In Kazakhstan, Bank CenterCredit introduced a 5 % fee for depositing cash rubles into accounts, Orda.kz reports, citing SVTV.

Bank CenterCredit was one of the first banks in Kazakhstan to start charging clients for cash ruble deposits.

In Belarus, eight banks introduced fees of 2–5 %. They include Alfa-Bank, Belarusbank, BelVEB, BNB-Bank, MTBank, Sberbank, Technobank and Zepter Bank.

In Kyrgyzstan, EcoIslamicBank introduced a 5 % fee for SWIFT transfers involving cash rubles. In Armenia, several banks have completely stopped accepting cash rubles, including deposits into accounts.

The new restrictions are linked to a surplus of Russian currency in banks across the region. According to Kazakhstan’s National Bank, in April exchange offices bought more rubles from clients than they sold. The net volume reached 39.8 billion tenge. In May, it fell to 30 billion tenge.

Experts say cash ruble operations require banks to spend money on storage, transportation and banknote verification. Outside Russia, demand for rubles is often limited, making such operations less profitable.

Another factor is the growing amount of cash in circulation in Russia. Since the beginning of the year, it has increased by about 1.4 trillion rubles. Russian banks have also tightened controls on large cash transactions and foreign transfers.

Since April 1, Russia has restricted the export of cash to EAEU countries for amounts exceeding the equivalent of $100,000.

Original author: Alexander Zhdanov

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