Financial stability

FAQ

    Payment transactions

  • Updated on 1 March 2023: Is it permissible to carry out a payment transaction after the end of the transitional period provided for by the EU Regulation, whereby a Russian/Belarusian customer pays for goods on the restriction list that were exported to Russia/Belarus by an EU company prior to the imposition of the restrictive measures in respect of those goods?

    If the contract under which the EU exporter exported the goods to Russia/Belarus was concluded in accordance with the restrictive measures in force (the goods were not listed at the time the contract was concluded), then payment for such goods may be carried out even after the end of the transitional period provided for in the EU Regulation. The European Commission distinguishes the situation where a EU company imports goods from Russia/Belarus, in which case, on the basis of the rule that the payment is part of the execution of the contract, the payment must be considered as no longer permissible after the end of the transitional period (see Q 10).

  • What does a bank’s exclusion from SWIFT entail?

    Payment transactions with Russian banks are generally executed via the correspondent banking mechanism, i.e. via the correspondent accounts of Russian banks at European banks and vice versa. The exchange of financial messages by which banks (both Russian and European) order the transfer of funds from correspondent accounts (debiting Russian banks and crediting European banks or vice versa) is generally undertaken via the SWIFT network. When a bank is excluded from SWIFT, it is much harder for the excluded bank to access its correspondent accounts at other banks, and for other banks to access their correspondent accounts at the excluded bank.

  • If Russian banks that were excluded from SWIFT on 12 March 2022 turn to other means of communication, would this be considered circumvention of the restrictive measures?

    In this case the direct prohibition relates to SWIFT, and not to the Russian banks excluded from the system. Therefore SWIFT (and all other providers of financial data exchange services in the EU) may not circumvent sanctions (see the amendment to Article 12 under Council Regulation (EU) 2022/328: “It shall be prohibited to participate, knowingly and intentionally, in activities the object or effect of which is to circumvent prohibitions in this Regulation including by acting as a substitute for natural or legal persons, entities or bodies referred to in Articles 5, 5a, 5b, 5e and 5f or by acting to their benefit by using the exceptions in Articles 5(6), 5a(2) 5b(2), 5e(2) or 5f(2)”).

  • Is the “margin call” exempted from the prohibition in connection with SWIFT messages?

    No, communications of this type are not exempted from the prohibition. The use of SWIFT for margin call messages that are exchanged between Russian banks that are the target of this prohibition is also prohibited.

  • Can Russian persons who do not hold an account with a bank in Slovenia be refused the opening of a basic payment account, or can additional conditions be set for them to ensure that the purpose of the basic payment account is upheld?

    The third paragraph of Article 181 of the Payment Services, Electronic Money Issuance Services and Payment Systems Act (ZPlaSSIED) stipulates that consumers legally resident in the EU, including consumers without a permanent abode and asylum seekers and consumers for whom a resident permit has not been approved but whose deportation is impossible on legal or factual grounds, have the right to open and use a basic payment account at a bank. This right applies irrespective of the consumer’s permanent residence. An application to open a basic payment account may only be refused for a Russian entity that satisfies any of the three reasons explicitly stated in the ZPlaSSIED for refusal of an application (Article 181(7) of the ZPlaSSIED), or if opening the account would cause a breach of the ZPPDFT-1 (Article 181(6) of the ZPlaSSIED), or if the person is on the list of persons subject to financial restrictive measures. The opening of a basic payment account may not be refused simply because the person is a Russian national/resident.

    The EBA opinion is still relevant with regard to the procedures for opening a basic payment account for asylum seekers. It emphasises a risk-based approach by financial institutions when providing financial products under such circumstances, where the flexibility afforded by the EU’s AML/CFT legislation can be exploited.

  • Kakšno podporo lahko nudi FURS finančnim institucijam pri presoji transakcij strank, ki predstavljajo plačilo za uvoženo ali izvoženo blago, v zvezi s katerim obstaja verjetnost, da je predmet omejevalnih ukrepov?

    FURS je skladno z ZOUPAMO pristojna za nadzor nad vnosom, iznosom, tranzitom in prenosom blaga v skladu s carinskimi predpisi ter predpisi, s katerimi so določeni omejevalni ukrepi.

    Finančne institucije se pri proučevanju ozadja transakcij, za katere menijo, da so lahko povezane z blagom, ki je predmet omejevalnih ukrepov, lahko obrnejo na FURS. FURS lahko nudi pomoč pri posameznih vprašanjih glede predloženih dokazil strank (npr. podatki o konkretnem postopku, pomen posameznih polj v deklaraciji, vprašanja uvrščanja blaga, ipd.), vendar se pa glede na svoje pristojnosti ne more odločati o postopanju s samo transakcijo.

    Kadar se informacije finančnih institucij nanašajo na sume kršitev iz pristojnosti FURS, jih FURS obravnava kot prijave kršitev, kar pomeni, da jih najprej analizira. Če se pri analizi prijave ugotovi, da obstaja večja verjetnost nespoštovanja oziroma kršitve zakonov, se izvede ustrezne postopke, ki pa zaradi procesnih rokov in pridobivanja podatkov (pogosto tudi iz tretjih držav), lahko trajajo dalj časa.

    Sumi kršitev se posredujejo na splošni naslov FURS in gfu.furs@gov.si.

Related