“Sberbank ATMs have been operating only with Russian rubles for many years,” Sberbank’s press service told RG. The call center confirmed this information and explained that all currency transactions are carried out through the bank office. Otkritie also accepts only the national currency through ATMs, the press service said.
As the employees of the Alfa-Bank call center told RG, it is no longer possible to replenish the cash account in euros and dollars through ATMs. This is explained by sanctions and the difficulties that arose because of them. However, there is such an opportunity in bank branches.
The specialists of the VTB call center shared that the withdrawal of dollars and euros from the account through ATMs is limited from March 9 of last year, replenishment – from April 19, 2022. In bank branches, as well as in Alfa-Bank, this possibility remains valid. In Sovcombank, you can definitely pass the currency through the cashier, they said in the call center of the credit institution.
It is impossible to deposit cash euros and dollars to an account opened in foreign currency in PSB, not only through ATMs, but also at the ticket office, employees of the call center told RG. Sanctions imposed on the bank were also mentioned as the main reason.
“You can deposit cash into the current account and withdraw it from this account at any branch of the bank,” the UniCreditBank press service said earlier. Let’s remember that Raiffeisenbank has limited cash deposits to the account through self-service machines from February 1, 2023. As for Tinkoff Bank, since July it charges a commission of 4-10%, depending on the amount.
“Disabling such a function by the largest banks means that they technically cannot replenish clients’ accounts in foreign currency,” says Ph.DGV Plekhanov Ilyas Zaripov. According to the expert, this is due to the freezing of its main correspondent account in foreign Western banks.
“Western opponents continue to blacklist Russian banks in an attempt to prevent the normal functioning of the Russian national banking system,” it added.
Zaripov notes that such sanctions also have a negative effect on the West itself. Dollars and euros are less and less in demand in the global trading and financial system, gradually moving into the category of “toxic” currencies.
“Russians who urgently need to make a transfer from their account in dollars and euros can deposit cash through bank branches, but there is less and less need for such cases. Now in Russia it is generally not profitable to keep their accounts in euros and dollars, neither deposit, nor current, nor loan, “explained the expert.
For these reasons, the Russians are closing these accounts en masse, transferring “toxic” currency to other assets. As Zaripov pointed out, the lack of demand for such operations is another reason to cancel the function of depositing cash in Western currencies through the ATMs of large Russian banks. The expert also stressed that this did not happen suddenly.
“Since spring 2022, Russian banks have gradually, one by one, closed this feature on their ATMs. The Russian banking system is getting used to working without dollars and euros, and it does it well, ”he summed up.
