Only through a bank account: in Russia, the possibility of anonymous replenishment of Internet wallets has been limited

On Monday, August 3, amendments to the law "On the national payment system" entered into force in Russia. According to the innovations, it is now impossible to replenish unidentified electronic wallets with cash.

Thus, it will be possible to transfer funds to anonymous wallets on services such as Yandex.Money, QIWI Wallet, WebMoney and many others only using a bank account.

“To ensure that electronic wallets are not used to launder capital obtained by criminal means. It will also prevent the financing of unscrupulous organizations, "said Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market, to RT.

As TASS reports with reference to Alla Savchenko, head of the Yandex.Money product development department, the share of anonymous users who replenish their wallets in cash does not exceed 5%. Tatiana Milacheva, director of marketing communications at WebMoney Transfer, added that unidentified wallets, for the most part, are used by teenagers to pay for small purchases.

Representatives of other similar services also announced the insignificant impact of legislative changes on this business.

“The vast majority of users in our system are identified, so we are unlikely to see a direct and significant business impact due to the amendments. We also see a positive trend in the transition of our users from an unidentified wallet to an identified one and are actively working to make the identification process as clear as possible for our users, ”the press service of Qiwi quoted TASS as saying.

In turn, the WebMoney company, in connection with the innovations, introduced a new method of identification for its customers - using video communication.

Recall that since September 15, 2019, Russia has banned the withdrawal of cash from anonymous bank cards or e-wallets without going through the identification procedure. This measure was aimed at combating the financing of terrorist, extremist, illegal activities.

• © strelkacard.ru

Amendments to the federal law will also affect transport services, in particular, the Strelka card, which is valid in public transport in the Moscow region, services for paying for school meals and much more.

“Starting from August 3, replenishment of Strelka will be available only in online channels, for example, using a bank card without commission: through your personal account on the website www.strelkacard.ru, through the Strelka mobile application, through the service Sberbank Online "and using the" Autopayment "service of Sberbank, in self-service devices of Sberbank, at the number 900 of Sberbank, etc. It will also be possible to replenish the Strelka card using electronic wallets, as well as from the balance of a mobile phone," the website says service.

The Ministry of Transport and Roads of the Novgorod Region also reminded local residents that from August 3, holders of the Beresta transport card will be able to replenish it only by non-cash method.

“The most popular way to top up transport cards among Novgorodians is the Sberbank-online personal account. In second place is replenishment through Sberbank terminals. The next most popular way to top up a transport card is the T-card mobile application. Replenishment of "Beresta" in cash is the least popular method. In June, the share of such replenishments amounted to only 5.3% of the total volume, ”the press service of the regional government said.

At the same time, as the chairman of the Electronic Money Association Viktor Dostov noted, there are currently several million users who have unidentified wallets.

“It is a very handy and simple tool and is used very eagerly. But there are two problems. Firstly, we have a lot of cards, such as transport cards, school cards, which children use for breakfast, corporate cards, they are all made on unidentified wallets. And this story will have to be changed very much. And it is not clear why, everything works fine, everything is legal and there are no risks. And secondly, unidentified wallets are a very simple threshold for entering cashless circulation. I.e. The man opened the wallet. I put in some cash and started working. Then he liked it, he identified himself, became a full-fledged user and is already working thoroughly. But now there will be no such threshold and fewer people will come to modern non-cash payments, ”the expert emphasized in an interview with RT.