An urgent banking issue affecting UK and Russian citizens

Over the last few years, several significant events have impacted the lives of UK residents, including UK citizens (or permanent residents) who hold Russian passports.

Brexit officially took place on January 31, 2020, when the UK formally left the European Union. However, the referendum in which UK residents voted to leave the EU was held earlier, on June 23, 2016.

After the referendum, several years of negotiations and political processes followed before the UK’s exit from the EU became official.

It is interesting, but the first countries to impose sanctions against Russia in 2022 were the UK and the USA (on February 22, 2022), while the EU introduced sanctions a day later (February 23, 2022). It is not a secret that after 2022, it has become very difficult for any Russian citizen (even those living in Europe) to open a bank account outside RF.

Surprisingly, but one of the most challenging cases for opening accounts is that of UK and Russian citizens residing in the UK trying to open accounts in the EU or Switzerland. One might think it’s a great combination—a Russian citizen made money in Russia and moved to the UK before 2022, where he obtained a British passport. He has been living in the UK and paying taxes there for several years.

An ideal profile, isn’t it?

But not for European and Swiss banks after 2022.

As usual, the devil is in the details.

Let us try to give you a general understanding of what went wrong with the case described above.

Let’s have a look at the Article 5b of the EU sanctions, which applies to all Russian passport holders.

Article 5b General Rule:

1. It shall be prohibited to accept any deposits from Russian nationals or natural persons residing in Russia, legal persons, entities, or bodies established in Russia, or a legal person, entity, or body established outside the Union and whose proprietary rights are directly or indirectly owned for more than 50% by Russian nationals or natural persons residing in Russia, if the total value of deposits of that natural or legal person, entity, or body per credit institution exceeds EUR 100,000.

Exception:

Paragraphs 1, 2, and 2a shall not apply to nationals of a Member State, of a country member of the European Economic Area, or of Switzerland, or to natural persons having a temporary or permanent residence permit in a Member State, in a country member of the European Economic Area, or in Switzerland.

So, the combination of a Russian passport plus citizenship (residence permit or permanent residence) in the EEA or Switzerland is an exception to the sanction rules. The EEA includes all EU member states plus Iceland, Liechtenstein, and Norway.

The UK is not on the list of exceptions… Thanks, Brexit!

Therefore, opening a bank account in the EU with the combination of “a Russian passport and a UK passport” is “a mission impossible”!

 Experts at Main Partner Trust strive to find solutions even for the most challenging situations and await your inquiries for individual discussions of your case.

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