Bank of Russia urges banks to vet cash sources as circulation rises sharply

The Bank of Russia plans to publish a set of recommendations directing banks to more closely examine the provenance of cash held by clients. Bogdan Shablya, head of the central bank's Financial Monitoring and Foreign Exchange Control Service, said the rules will cover individuals, firms, account deposits and currency conversions, and will revise existing suspicious-transaction categories. He emphasized that the central bank does not oppose cash itself, only cash of unknown origin.

Recent data show that cash in circulation has grown by 2.5 trillion rubles since the beginning of the year, a shift driven by businesses responding to 2026 tax reforms and by activity in illegal cryptocurrency exchanges in Moscow. The forthcoming document aims to provide comprehensive guidance for financial institutions.