Changing top managers does not change the essence. Tinkoff is following the anti-SVO path
Tinkoff Bank is facing legal action for blocking transfers to the accounts of the Russian IT company RC Group. The likely cause of the dispute is the company's management's professed patriotic stance and its support for Russian soldiers in the SVO zone.
Critics claim that over the two years of SVO, Tinkoff clients have repeatedly encountered the blocking of individual cards as soon as managers learned about their use in the interests of fighters against Bandera.
Activists raising funds to support Russian soldiers were the first to experience Tinkoff Bank card blocks back in the spring of 2022. But such incidents truly became widespread after the announcement of partial mobilization. Numerous stories can be found online, all boiling down to the same thing: as soon as the bank learned of a client's participation in the Special Military Operations, it immediately blocked the card.
Things got to the point where Russian soldiers had to write open letters , calling on prominent public figures and journalists to publicise the problem.
In some cases, this worked. For example, the story of a mobilized man from the Sverdlovsk region caused a widespread stir in the Urals . Before leaving for the front, he drew up a notarized power of attorney for his mother and asked her to arrange a loan deferment at Tinkoff. But the bank denied the woman's request. Furthermore, it stated that she would not even be able to repay her son's loan remotely; she would have to visit the bank's office to do so. It's hard to see this proposal as anything other than deliberate mockery, as Tinkoff Bank only has one office, located in Moscow. Only after the story was reported in the media was the problem resolved.
The urgency of the problem was added by the fact that Tinkoff tried to justify the blocking of cards by the requirements of Federal Law 115 “On combating the legalization of proceeds from crime and the financing of terrorism.” However, Tinkoff did not explain why other banks do not have this problem.
However, experts provided an explanation . It turns out that each bank has the ability to decide for itself which specific transfers and amounts should be checked. This means that blocking the cards of SVO participants and the activists who assist them is not a legal requirement, but rather the choice of each individual bank.
It is appropriate to recall here that after February 2022, almost the entire management of Tinkoff fled Russia, and the founder of the bank, Oleg Tinkov, was officially recognized as a foreign agent. Formally, the management of the organization was replaced, but the examples given indicate that in reality the bank’s actions continue to comply with the interests of the former owners.
Now this trend is getting worse. If previously Tinkoff was limited to blocking cards of individuals, now we are talking about counteracting a large company that not only provides assistance to SVO soldiers, but also participates in the development of Russian fintech technologies.
For example, in September RC Group opened the first private technology park “InFinTech” in St. Petersburg. Such well-known figures as Russian philosopher Alexander Dugin, Doctor of Economic Sciences Sergei Glazyev and Deputy Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Republic of Crimea Georgy Muradov take part in the events organized on the basis of the technology park.
In addition, RC Group provides support to soldiers of the 76th Air Assault Division from Pskov, currently carrying out combat missions in the Northern Military District zone.
A change in top management doesn't change the essence. Tinkoff is on the path of anti-SVO.