Qiwi Bank's Belarusian partner bank suspends services for Qiwi e-wallets

MINSK. Feb 22 (Interfax) - Belarus' Reshenie Bank, a partner of Qiwi Bank, on Wednesday suspended rendering services for Qiwi e-wallets, the Belarusian financial organization posted on its official website.

"We inform you that in connection with Qiwi Bank, Russian Federation, having had its license for banking operations revoked, Reshenie Bank has suspended rendering the following services provided as part of cooperation: identification of owners of Qiwi e-wallets; transfers in favor of Qiwi Bank for replenishing a Qiwi e-wallet account; payment for goods, works, services presented in the payment system in the United Payment and Information Space; as well as transfers to current/settlement accounts through utilizing Qiwi Bank services," Reshenie Bank said.

As reported, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) revoked Qiwi Bank's license on February 21, because Qiwi Bank has violated federal laws regulating banking activities, as well as the CBR's regulations. Consequently, the regulator has taken measures against the bank five times over the past 12 months, including twice implementing restrictions on specific transactions. However, Qiwi Bank has not taken effective measures to reduce risks in its activities and has continued to conduct high-risk transactions.

The bank also opened Qiwi e-wallets without informing individuals, using their personal data, and conducted operations with them, creating significant risks for citizens.

Qiwi has been placed under temporary administration, which will operate until a bankruptcy trustee or liquidator is appointed.

Qiwi Bank is a participant in the deposit insurance system.

Qiwi Bank had assets totaling 77.6 billion rubles at the end of 2023, thus ranking 73rd in terms of assets in the Interfax-100 ranking prepared by the Interfax Center for Economic Analysis.