Russia's Central Bank revokes Qiwi Bank's licence

Russia's Central Bank has revoked the banking licence of Qiwi Bank as of February 21 for what it called "high-risk operations" involving the black market.

According to the Central Bank's press release on the licence revocation, Qiwi Bank violated federal laws on banking activities and Bank of Russia regulations, in connection with which the Central Bank took measures against it five times in the past 12 months, including twice imposing restrictions on certain operations.

"Qiwi Bank systematically violated legal requirements in the area of anti-money laundering and countering the financing of terrorism," the Central Bank said in a statement.

"Its activities were characterised by involvement in high-risk operations aimed at settlements between individuals and the black market, including transfers of funds to crypto exchanges, illegal online casinos, bookmakers, etc.," it added.

On February 21, the company said in a statement to clients that it had closed its offices in Moscow, St Petersburg and Kazan.

"We understand that you have many questions. We're reviewing the situation and will get back to you as soon as we have information on our next steps," the statement said.

A provisional administration has been appointed for Qiwi Bank, with the functions of the bank being transferred to the Deposit Insurance Agency (DIA). It will act until a receiver or liquidator is appointed.

On January 19, Qiwi Group announced plans to sell the Russian assets consolidated under Qiwi to Hong Kong-based Fusion Factor Fintech Limited, owned by former Qiwi CEO Andrey Protopopov. The Group's international business in Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates and other countries will continue to be developed under Qiwi. The transaction price for the sale of Qiwi was $248 million. It included Qiwi Bank, Qiwi Wallet, Qiwi Business, Contact money transfer system, Rowi, Realweb, Flocktory, Taxiaggregator, IntellectMoney and a number of other assets.

The closing of the transaction took place on January 30.