Russia proposes controlling migrant money transfers

Russia may introduce a system to monitor financial transfers made by migrants in order to detect suspicious activities, reports TASS, citing Andrey Baukin from the Prosecutor General’s Office.

Baukin said the agency supports the idea of data sharing between banks and migration authorities — a concept he called “possibly the first initiative of its kind.”

— Banks currently have no access to this data. It’s important to know who is transferring funds and for what reason. Migrants are sometimes brought in by the busload, and they may not fully understand the consequences of their actions, — Baukin noted.

The proposed system would enable a structured exchange of information between financial institutions and government migration offices.