Central Bank official comments on bill on Central Bank

The Central Bank of Russia disagrees with the limitation of its inspections of credit institutions according to the bill on the Central Bank, First Deputy Chairman of the Central Bank Andrey Kozlov said at a press conference devoted to the opening of the 11th International Banking Congress in St. Petersburg.

Today, the Sate Duma of Russia has adopted the bill on the Central Bank. According to the bill, the Bank cannot inspect a credit institution more than once on the same issue during one accounting period.

As Kozlov pointed out, the Central Bank of Russia has sent an inquiry to the European Bank of Reconstruction and Development, the World Bank, and other foreign financial institutions. According to him, financial organizations expressed their negative opinion regarding this issue. No other country has limitations on the number of inspections, which may be conducted by a controlling authority at a bank.

Kozlov said that on the whole, the Central Bank estimated the bill positively. It contains rational steps aimed at increasing the transparency of the Central Bank's activities. However, he stressed that there were points in the bill, which had nothing to do "with the transparency of the Bank", for example, the limitation of the number of inspections of credit institutions.

Chairman of the Central Bank Sergey Ignatyev earlier stated that the adoption of this amendment limited considerably the authority of the Bank regarding banking supervision. In his turn, Russian Finance Minister Alexey Kudrin said that the bill on the Central Bank might be vetoed. According to Kozlov, even if the bill is adopted, the Central bank will find the way to perform its functions.

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