All cards on the table. The Central Bank will create a unified database that will display all accounts and cards of every Russian citizen.
The Bank of Russia plans to develop a unified database within a year that will show how many bank cards each citizen holds and from which banks. State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Ivan Lebedev, announced this at a meeting of the State Duma IT Committee.
According to him, such a framework is necessary to ensure that new restrictions and settings operate correctly, are user-friendly, and avoid any distortions. Lebedev also noted that the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media have worked diligently on this issue and addressed sensitive issues, and the final design, he asserts, simultaneously takes into account the interests of citizens and the state's regulatory objectives.
The initiative is related to the second package of measures to combat cyberfraud , which the government submitted to the State Duma in December 2025. The package included about two dozen proposals to protect citizens, including limits on the number of bank cards : no more than five cards per bank and no more than 20 cards across all credit institutions. A more stringent option, reducing the limit to ten cards, was previously discussed, but abandoned.
The Bank of Russia explained that the chosen values were based on the banks' own statistics. Deputy Chairman of the regulator, German Zubarev, stated that this limit is sufficient for the vast majority of legitimate clients: it won't cause any inconvenience, but it will reduce the supply of cards on the black market, where they are used to cash out stolen funds .
Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina specifically linked the measure to the fight against mules, or intermediaries through which fraudsters withdraw and cash out stolen money. According to her, the restrictions should not affect ordinary citizens, as in everyday life, people don't open hundreds , much less thousands, of cards.
Meanwhile, amendments are being prepared in the State Duma for the second reading of the second package of measures , which will soften several initiatives. Specifically, they are discussing a "self-ban" on international calls and an option for SMS alerts about incoming calls from abroad. They are also clarifying the idea of a unified IMEI database so that it doesn't create problems for people who bought smartphones abroad for themselves.
The Bank of Russia plans to develop a unified database within a year that will show how many bank cards each citizen holds and from which banks. State Secretary and Deputy Minister of Digital Development, Ivan Lebedev, announced this at a meeting of the State Duma IT Committee.
According to him, such a framework is necessary to ensure that new restrictions and settings operate correctly, are user-friendly, and avoid any distortions. Lebedev also noted that the Bank of Russia and the Ministry of Digital Development, Communications and Mass Media have worked diligently on this issue and addressed sensitive issues, and the final design, he asserts, simultaneously takes into account the interests of citizens and the state's regulatory objectives.
The initiative is related to the second package of measures to combat cyberfraud , which the government submitted to the State Duma in December 2025. The package included about two dozen proposals to protect citizens, including limits on the number of bank cards : no more than five cards per bank and no more than 20 cards across all credit institutions. A more stringent option, reducing the limit to ten cards, was previously discussed, but abandoned.
The Bank of Russia explained that the chosen values were based on the banks' own statistics. Deputy Chairman of the regulator, German Zubarev, stated that this limit is sufficient for the vast majority of legitimate clients: it won't cause any inconvenience, but it will reduce the supply of cards on the black market, where they are used to cash out stolen funds .
Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina specifically linked the measure to the fight against mules, or intermediaries through which fraudsters withdraw and cash out stolen money. According to her, the restrictions should not affect ordinary citizens, as in everyday life, people don't open hundreds , much less thousands, of cards.
Meanwhile, amendments are being prepared in the State Duma for the second reading of the second package of measures , which will soften several initiatives. Specifically, they are discussing a "self-ban" on international calls and an option for SMS alerts about incoming calls from abroad. They are also clarifying the idea of a unified IMEI database so that it doesn't create problems for people who bought smartphones abroad for themselves.
