Banks in Belarus and Kazakhstan Raise Fees for Accepting Russian Rubles

Banks in Kazakhstan, Belarus, and Kyrgyzstan have increased fees for accepting cash rubles. At least ten financial institutions have tightened their conditions. Belarusian "Neo Bank Asia" introduced a 20% fee for depositing cash rubles into personal accounts at the end of July. "MTBank", "Sber", VTB, "BelVEB", "Belarusbank", "Technobank", and "Zepter Bank" raised the fee for non-residents to 15%, up from 2-5% previously. In Kazakhstan, "Centercredit Bank" doubled its fee for accepting cash rubles from 5% to 10%. Halyk Bank also raised its fee to 15% for both citizens and non-residents. Kyrgyz "EcoIslamic Bank" increased the fee to 10% for transfers through money transfer systems and SWIFT. In August, several other banks also introduced fees for topping up cards and accounts with Russian rubles. The reason for the fee increases is the surplus of Russian currency in EAEU banks, which creates additional costs for storage and transportation. Demand for Russian rubles outside of Russia remains limited. From April to June, Russians increased transfers to foreign brokers' accounts to 42-45 billion rubles per month.

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