Russia tightens screws on currency exchanges

December 28 2015
The Central Bank of Russia has implemented stricter rules on cash exchanges in the country. The policy is expected to tackle money laundering and the bankrolling of terrorism.

Starting from Sunday, the authorities require clients to provide a full name, passport details, registration place, date of birth and tax reference number, if the transaction is bigger than 15,000 rubles ($212).

The forms are to be filled in by banks and customer information will be stored by the bank for at least five years from the date of the last transaction. Previously, if the transaction was between 15,000 and 600,000 rubles, the rules required a client to give only a name and passport details.