Verified in business: The Central Bank is testing banks' resilience to Internet outages

The Central Bank and the Ministry of Finance are discussing the connection of all banks to the so—called white lists, a list of services that continue to work even when the mobile Internet is turned off. The head of the regulator, Elvira Nabiullina, announced this at the plenary session of the VIII Congress of the Association of Banks of Russia. Currently, only five large banks have access to them, which creates a serious bias in the market. The Ministry of Finance is already preparing technology that will ensure the smooth operation of terminals and ATMs, even with communication problems. What other innovations await the market can be found in the Izvestia article.

When will banking applications be able to work without the Internet

Technological restrictions do not yet allow all banks to be included in the "white lists" at once, Elvira Nabiullina said at the congress of the Association of Banks of Russia. According to her, the regulator is already discussing ways to solve this problem with the Ministry of Finance, since the current situation gives a serious advantage to a limited number of players.

— The Central Bank of the Russian Federation is discussing with the Ministry of Finance the inclusion of all banks in the "white lists", — said the head of the Bank of Russia.

The connection of credit institutions to such lists will take place in stages, she said. First, systemically important financial services will gain access — these are not only banks, but also insurance companies. The authorities are currently forming criteria for selecting organizations for the next stages of connection, but no specific dates have been announced yet.

For banks that are not included in the lists, several serious problems arise at once, said Vasily Kutyin, Ingo Bank's Director of Analytics. Firstly, customers are starting to use the cache more often, which reduces the volume of non-cash transactions and commission income of banks. Secondly, companies are gradually transferring payments to financial institutions, whose services continue to operate under communication restrictions, even if the conditions there are less favorable.

In addition, it is more difficult for small banks to meet the technical requirements for joining the "white lists", including the introduction of a system of operational investigative measures (SORM), the expert added. This increases the gap between large and small players and may lead to the withdrawal of some organizations from the market.

The Ministry of Finance and telecom operators have also already prepared technical solutions that should keep ATMs and terminals running even with Internet restrictions, Nabiullina added. These mechanisms are currently being tested.

The problem is particularly sensitive for businesses due to interruptions in payments and terminal operations, Vasily Kutyin emphasized. This is especially true for small companies and retail outlets, where payments often take place via the mobile Internet.

The main problem for consumers is the inability to pay for purchases or withdraw money from an ATM, said Boris Kopeikin, chief economist at the Stolypin Institute of Growth Economics. According to him, the decisions of the Ministry of Finance and telecom operators can significantly reduce these risks and stabilize the market.

The Central Bank strengthens control over the sector

At the ADB congress, the head of the regulator also called on banks to correctly assess the financial situation of borrowers and not underestimate the risks. According to Elvira Nabiullina, in some cases, lenders artificially improve performance due to insufficient reserves for problem loans to businesses.

The increase in corporate delinquency is really noticeable, although it remains within expectations, Alexey Verkhoshinsky, head of Alfa-Bank, added during the plenary session. According to him, the level of problem debt rose to about 3-3.5% from 2-2.5% a year earlier amid a slowdown in the economy and a decrease in GDP growth.

Incorrect assessment of reserves can reduce the safety margin of the banking sector, Nabiullina warned. Therefore, the Central Bank plans to limit the use of banks' expert assessments when analyzing large problem loans. Starting next year, the regulator intends to prohibit classifying corporate borrowers as having a good or average financial position with a high debt burden.

In corporate lending, risk assessment is really largely based on the internal judgments of banks, explained Yuri Belikov, Managing Director of the Expert RA rating agency. Unlike the retail segment, where lenders focus primarily on the level of delinquency, in corporate loans, the terms of transactions are individual, and problems can manifest themselves much later.

Because of this, banks are not always required to form increased reserves, even with a high debt burden of the borrower, the expert noted. It is probably this gap that the Central Bank is going to eliminate.

Against the background of a slowing economy, more and more companies may face problems servicing debts, Boris Kopeikin emphasized. According to him, attempts to conceal the deterioration in the quality of loans can only increase future risks.

The situation partially resembles the causes of the 2008 crisis in the United States, when underestimation of risks led to large-scale problems in the financial system, says Denis Astafyev, entrepreneur and founder of the SharesPro fintech platform. Although Russian banks currently have significant capital reserves, local problems in corporate lending can still pose a threat to individual players.

How the digital ruble will change the market

Elvira Nabiullina also called on banks to actively develop services based on the digital ruble, including the use of smart contracts. According to the head of the Central Bank, the new form of the national currency creates not only additional costs for the market, but also new sources of income.

Banks will be able to launch services to automate complex payments and charge a commission for their use, Denis Astafyev explained. For example, money can be transferred automatically after meeting pre—set conditions - upon completion of the construction phase, after delivery of goods or confirmation of the transaction.

The increase in IT infrastructure costs was one of the reasons why the Central Bank decided to raise the minimum capital requirements for credit institutions, Nabiullina said. According to her, a modern bank can no longer exist without large investments in digital systems and protection against cyber fraud.

The minimum capital for banks with a universal license is planned to be raised from 1 billion to 3 billion rubles, and for banks with a basic license — from 300 million to 1 billion rubles, the Central Bank said. The changes will be introduced gradually from 2028 to 2030.

Most banks already meet the new requirements, Nabiullina stressed. Those market players who will need additional capitalization account for only about 0.4% of the capital of the banking sector. According to Anatoly Aksakov, head of the State Duma's financial Market committee, about 25 small credit institutions may have problems raising funds.

Various adaptation options are being considered for small banks, including changing licenses or joining groups and alliances, the head of the Central Bank added. The regulator also plans to issue a separate advisory report on this reform.

The Central Bank's measures are aimed not at a hard sweep of the market, but at gradually strengthening the stability of the banking system, Denis Astafyev concluded. At the same time, the regulator is trying to remove gray areas in risk assessment and accelerate the digitalization of the sector. As a result, the system should also become more technologically advanced.