We open accounts at larger western banks represented in Russia - Raiffeisen and Unicredit, and manage the following matters:
For many starting busiensses banks present communication challenge. Russian banks are highly regulated institutions which makes each of them invent its 'proprietary' set of compliance criteria to make sure that fulfil demands of the Central Bank of Russia. Preliminary KYC processes may seem arbitrary and differ greatly bank to bank.
Foreign currency operations are regulated by specific laws aimed at counter-action to financing of illigal activities (money laundering, terrorism etc). Coupled with high basic levels of incompetence, bureaucracy and poor motivation of bank workers, these laws make currency control departments the most frustrating places in almost every bank in Russia.
Opening bank account and further interactions with a bank are often take significant time and effort
Another consideration is bank reliability. Of Russia’s 900+ banks only few have enough liquidity for banking per se, some banks get chronically involved in questionable activity and end up with their licenses revoked. Businesses are in the end of the queue for compensations in this case.
Some Russian banks routinely fink to the tax authority/state financial intelligence about their clients' operations.
At GreenLane we manage these practical issues for our Clients.