MOSCOW, April 25 (RAPSI) - The State Duma has passed an amendment to a bill on the uninterrupted operation of foreign payment systems, currently in the second reading, that would allow banks to close the accounts of foreign nationals if US law requires the provision of data on such accounts.

Lending institutions would have the right to refuse to open a bank account or close existing accounts owned by foreign nationals or corporations if US law requires a Russian lending institution to agree to allow the monitoring of bank accounts opened by US tax payers in Russia and their transactions.

Specifically, the US FATCA (Foreign Account Tax Compliance Act) stipulates that banks must abide by such an agreement and report to the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) any details of accounts held by US residents and to withhold 30% of a payor’s deposit. Banks not complying with FATCA could be subject to sanctions, the explanatory note to the bill states.

The bill is intended to ensure uninterrupted and secure money transfers. The amendments to the bill in the second reading also establish requirements for a national card payment system and a payment and clearing center that could be set up as a joint stock company with 100% of the shares belonging to the Central Bank, the share ownership of which would gradually be reduced, State Duma Speaker Sergei Naryshkin announced.

As a reaction to the reunification of Crimea with the Russian Federation in mid-March, the US introduced sanctions against 20 Russian citizens and Rossiya Bank. Following this action, the international card payment system operators Visa and MasterCard stopped client operations at Rossiya Bank, SMP Bank, and their subsidiaries Sobinbank and Investkapitalbank with no prior notice. Some of the restrictions were later lifted.