In 2018, the Bank of Russia identified over 400 thousand unauthorized transactions totaling 1.38 billion rubles. The previous year, 317 thousand such transactions were identified totaling 961 million rubles. This growth is related to increased transparency of information that banks provide to the regulator about unauthorized transactions.

Banks are now required to inform the regulator about all unauthorized transactions and the reasons therefor using a new reporting form. The Bank of Russia’s new requirements facilitate the creation of more effective information security systems in credit institutions that will boost the detectability of unauthorized transactions and protect the funds held in bank accounts. More than 80 percent of the identified unauthorized transactions (coming to over one billion rubles) were carried out online and via mobile devices. Swindling personal information out of customers with the subsequent use of such data to steal funds was the cause for 90 percent of the unauthorized transactions.

For the first time, the new reporting system allowed the regulator to obtain complete information about how banks reimburse clients for stolen funds. For instance, in the third quarter of 2018 (after this parameter was introduced into the reporting requirements), banks returned 230 million rubles to their clients.