Regulatory purges: Central Bank to tighten control over electronic wallets
The Central Bank will tighten the requirements for e-wallet operators and bring them closer to banking standards. Companies will have to inform customers more transparently about tariffs, risks, and refund terms. The market for such services has already reached 13.3 trillion rubles, but so far the requirements for its participants have been softer than for credit institutions. Previously, the rules were advisory in nature, but now the work of operators will be evaluated according to 33 criteria at once. For detected violations, the regulator will be able to demand corrections, and for non—compliance with regulations, it will be able to apply sanctions up to and including revocation of the license. Whether this will help increase the transparency of electronic wallets and reduce the number of disputed debits is discussed in the Izvestia article.
What rules does the Central Bank introduce?
E-wallet operators will now have to explain more clearly to people what they are paying for, what restrictions apply to transfers, and how to refund money. The Central Bank will evaluate not only the availability of information in the contract or on the website, but also how fully tariffs, risks, limits and the procedure for contacting support are disclosed. On September 29, the Central Bank issued an order to introduce a new methodology for evaluating electronic money operators. It includes 33 criteria.
Among the key indicators are transparency of commissions, refund rules, notifications of changes in terms and availability of customer support, said Vasily Kutyin, Director of Analytics at Ingo Bank. According to him, the client must understand the cost of the operation in advance and know under what conditions the money can be debited or refunded.
The organization of the support service will also be checked. For example, employees should have up—to-date information about services and undergo training, and customer requests should be recorded so that recurring problems can be identified faster, added Leonid Delitsyn, analyst at Finam.
In 2025, the volume of transactions with electronic wallets in Russia increased 1.6 times, to 13.3 trillion rubles. At the same time, the requirements for working with clients in this market were much softer than in the banking sector.
An electronic wallet allows you to pay and transfer money without opening a bank account. According to the law, funds are accounted for separately, and transfers are carried out by the operator, an organization that has the appropriate permission. At the same time, the deposit insurance system does not apply to electronic money. Well—known services include Yumopeu, qPlus and WB Wallet. Izvestia sent them inquiries.
The new methodology does not introduce all the requirements from scratch. Earlier, the Central Bank had already published recommendations on informing customers, but now their compliance will be checked systematically, explained Denis Astafyev, founder of the SharesPro fintech platform.
In practice, claims against e-wallets are often associated with opaque fees, unexpected write-offs, and difficulties with refunds. For example, it may be difficult for a client to determine which tariffs were in effect at the time of the transaction. Another problem is that the explanations provided by the support service are not clear enough. The very existence of a communication channel does not guarantee that the user will understand the reasons for the write-off and will be able to achieve a solution to the problem, Denis Astafyev noted.
Izvestia also sent a request to the Central Bank, asking to name the most common claims against e-wallet operators.
What will be the risk for violations
If the inspection reveals violations, the Central Bank will be able to reflect them in the report and require the operator to eliminate the shortcomings. For non—compliance with the order or violation of mandatory requirements of the law, the regulator will be able to apply measures of influence - from fines to restrictions on individual operations and revocation of the license, explained Valeria Popova, senior analyst at Rikom-Trust.
However, the publication of the terms by itself does not guarantee that the client will understand them. If information about fees, limits, and refunds is hidden in a long contract or set out in complex language, the operator can formally disclose all the details, but the user still won't understand what they're agreeing to. Therefore, a lot depends on how easily the services explain the key conditions immediately before payment or transfer, says Valeria Popova.
The methodology will allow assessing not only the formal disclosure of information, but also the problems faced by clients. Recurring complaints, in particular, will help identify cases where operators do not inform users enough or do not provide high-quality support. This will give the regulator the opportunity to detect systemic deficiencies in the services and seek to eliminate them, Denis Astafyev believes.
What will happen to the market
New requirements may increase the costs of small operators: they will have to maintain a high-quality customer support service, improve internal procedures, and pay more attention to risk control. For large companies, such costs are usually easier to spread over a large customer base. Therefore, some small players may consider selling the business or merging with larger competitors, experts say.
At the same time, analysts do not expect a mass withdrawal of companies from the market solely because of the new methodology. As of October 1, 2026, there were about 40 e-wallet operators in Russia, although there were no more than six or seven widely known among them, said Natalia Milchakova, a leading analyst at Freedom Global. According to her, additional costs can accelerate the consolidation of the market, but will not necessarily lead to the disappearance of small players.
A separate problem is that e-wallets can be used by fraudsters due to simplified identification rules. For example, an anonymous wallet can be opened without presenting a passport. At the same time, it is allowed to store no more than 15 thousand rubles on it, and the total volume of transactions is limited to 40 thousand per month. The functionality of such wallets is also limited: you cannot transfer money from them to the accounts of other individuals.
Another option is a wallet with simplified identification. To pass it, it is enough to inform the operator of the last name, first name and patronymic, as well as the series and number of the Russian passport. This wallet allows you to store up to 100 thousand rubles and transfer up to 100 thousand rubles in one operation. The total volume of transfers is limited to 200 thousand per month.
Therefore, criminals attract front persons who, for a reward, open wallets in their own name, and then transfer them to fraudsters. When money passes through several wallets and intermediaries, it is more difficult for victims to identify the perpetrators and return the funds, experts explained. In their opinion, the new rules will not be able to completely eradicate such schemes: the methodology primarily regulates the disclosure of information and the quality of service, but does not cover all ways of stealing money.
According to the Central Bank for 2025, about 13.4 thousand transactions were connected with electronic wallets without the voluntary consent of customers in the amount of over 170 million rubles. However, these figures do not reflect all controversial debits: wallets can be used as an intermediate link in multi-stage fraudulent schemes. Therefore, to reduce losses, we need not only clear terms of service, but also effective systems for detecting suspicious transactions.
Effective anti-fraud systems, rapid information exchange between financial institutions, and increased financial literacy of customers are needed to significantly reduce user losses. As Denis Astafyev noted, it is important for users to be able to quickly block access to the wallet, report a suspicious transaction and receive clear instructions before the money goes further. The new rules are also aimed at improving the work of support, so they will help solve these problems.
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