Russia proposes letting banks block accounts on partial terrorist-list matches

Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service has published draft changes to the law on combating the legalization of criminally obtained income, aiming to broaden the circumstances under which banks must freeze accounts. Currently, banks must block accounts of individuals appearing on Rosfinmonitoring’s list of terrorists and extremists within 24 hours. The new wording would allow banks to halt transactions when a client’s information only partially matches an entry on that list, imposing a five-day suspension while the match is examined.

Rosfinmonitoring will set the precise standards for what constitutes a partial match, and the freeze can be lifted unless a further decision extends it. The existing list includes more than 15,000 names, such as Telegram founder Pavel Durov, author Boris Akunin and political scientist Ekaterina Schulmann. The amendment is intended to close loopholes that let people evade existing restrictions.