Olga Lavrentyeva, a research fellow at the Financial Literacy
Posted: Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:34 am
President of the Association of Russian Banks (ARB) Garegin Tosunyan spoke about the ARB's initiatives on the digital ruble at an open discussion on October 26, 2023: "We proposed to enshrine at the regulatory level a direct ban on forcing citizens to use digital currency. This ban should be clearly and unambiguously formulated."
ARB also proposed to albania whatsapp resource establish the inadmissibility of worsening the situation of consumers of financial services - in particular, the inadmissibility of refusing the declared free service in digital rubles for citizens. "On the one hand, free service has been declared, but on the other hand, there is a risk that this declaration may be forgotten at some point, and we will get more monopoly conditions and commissions on the market," Garegin Tosunyan believes.
On October 9, 2023, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Olga Skorobogatova stated that the Central Bank plans to introduce the digital ruble into mass circulation based on the results of stage-by-stage testing and subject to the successful completion of piloting all scenarios for operations with the digital ruble: "We expect that from 2025, citizens and businesses will be able to actively use the national digital currency, naturally, if they wish."
Garegin Tosunyan reported that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation calls the absence of commissions, for example, an advantage for consumers: “The Central Bank declares that opening digital wallets and any transactions with digital rubles will be free, but it is very important that this declaration is implemented and is relevant for a long time, and not just at the initial stage.
The second promise of the Central Bank was that access to the digital wallet will be possible through any financial institution in which the client is identified, which guarantees high speed of settlements and the ability to use the digital ruble without the Internet. "How exactly? No one has explained yet," the head of the ARB notes.
Reditor-in-chief of ComNews.ru
Digital ruble for individuals: if you hold it close to your heart, you'll be sent to hell
Russians, at least in the near future, will not want to transfer rubles to digital ones - the Central Bank has created all the prohibitive conditions for this. But if the state transfers all payments to government bodies, budget institutions and state companies to digital rubles, the new national digital currency will inevitably "go to the people".
Laboratory of the Faculty of Economics at Lomonosov Moscow State University, also noted that the digital ruble will become one of the forms of money on par with cash and non-cash rubles, and they will replace each other one to one. However, Olga Lavrentyeva noted the risk of commissions for conversion, so in all cases there may not be a one-to-one exchange.
"Financial and trade organizations will be required to have equipment that can accept the digital ruble, for which store owners will have to update their terminals. On the other hand, people and companies on the buyer's side will have the right to pay as they wish. But a legislative ban on requiring people to have digital wallets and pay with the digital ruble will not hurt either. The initiative of the Association of Russian Banks is justified," Olga Lavrentyeva believes.
According to the head of the ARB, the introduction of the digital ruble contains certain risks and is a challenge for the entire financial market: a negative impact on the indicators of the money supply, emission, inflation is possible, there are risks of imbalance in the business models of banks.
Angela Khanachevskaya, director of the analytical department of the Association of Russian Banks, explained that the introduction of the digital ruble will blur the two-tier financial system, when there was a regulator and banks that conduct transactions and serve clients: "The Central Bank will begin to carry out retail settlements, and the functions of banks will be seriously narrowed, because they will only generate an application for making transfers and checking the rights of a particular person to use a wallet."
ARB also proposed to albania whatsapp resource establish the inadmissibility of worsening the situation of consumers of financial services - in particular, the inadmissibility of refusing the declared free service in digital rubles for citizens. "On the one hand, free service has been declared, but on the other hand, there is a risk that this declaration may be forgotten at some point, and we will get more monopoly conditions and commissions on the market," Garegin Tosunyan believes.
On October 9, 2023, First Deputy Chairman of the Bank of Russia Olga Skorobogatova stated that the Central Bank plans to introduce the digital ruble into mass circulation based on the results of stage-by-stage testing and subject to the successful completion of piloting all scenarios for operations with the digital ruble: "We expect that from 2025, citizens and businesses will be able to actively use the national digital currency, naturally, if they wish."
Garegin Tosunyan reported that the Central Bank of the Russian Federation calls the absence of commissions, for example, an advantage for consumers: “The Central Bank declares that opening digital wallets and any transactions with digital rubles will be free, but it is very important that this declaration is implemented and is relevant for a long time, and not just at the initial stage.
The second promise of the Central Bank was that access to the digital wallet will be possible through any financial institution in which the client is identified, which guarantees high speed of settlements and the ability to use the digital ruble without the Internet. "How exactly? No one has explained yet," the head of the ARB notes.
Reditor-in-chief of ComNews.ru
Digital ruble for individuals: if you hold it close to your heart, you'll be sent to hell
Russians, at least in the near future, will not want to transfer rubles to digital ones - the Central Bank has created all the prohibitive conditions for this. But if the state transfers all payments to government bodies, budget institutions and state companies to digital rubles, the new national digital currency will inevitably "go to the people".
Laboratory of the Faculty of Economics at Lomonosov Moscow State University, also noted that the digital ruble will become one of the forms of money on par with cash and non-cash rubles, and they will replace each other one to one. However, Olga Lavrentyeva noted the risk of commissions for conversion, so in all cases there may not be a one-to-one exchange.
"Financial and trade organizations will be required to have equipment that can accept the digital ruble, for which store owners will have to update their terminals. On the other hand, people and companies on the buyer's side will have the right to pay as they wish. But a legislative ban on requiring people to have digital wallets and pay with the digital ruble will not hurt either. The initiative of the Association of Russian Banks is justified," Olga Lavrentyeva believes.
According to the head of the ARB, the introduction of the digital ruble contains certain risks and is a challenge for the entire financial market: a negative impact on the indicators of the money supply, emission, inflation is possible, there are risks of imbalance in the business models of banks.
Angela Khanachevskaya, director of the analytical department of the Association of Russian Banks, explained that the introduction of the digital ruble will blur the two-tier financial system, when there was a regulator and banks that conduct transactions and serve clients: "The Central Bank will begin to carry out retail settlements, and the functions of banks will be seriously narrowed, because they will only generate an application for making transfers and checking the rights of a particular person to use a wallet."