Russian banks have expressed their disagreement with a bill proposing to grant force structures direct access to information systems and databases containing customer information, according to the Association of Russian Banks (ABR). A letter was sent by the ABR to the Ministry of Construction and the Chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, Information Technologies, and Communications, Alexander Khinshtein, regarding this matter.
The bill was introduced in the State Duma in August 2023. It aims to provide the Ministry of Defense, the FSB, the FSO, the foreign intelligence service, and the Ministry of Internal Affairs with the rights to access various information systems and databases, including remote access. This access would enable them to edit or delete information about special services that are customers of banks and other organizations. The document particularly emphasizes state and municipal databases, and it also plans to establish a special register of systems processing data from employees of law enforcement agencies.
In response, the ABR has pointed out that such measures violate citizens’ constitutional rights to the confidentiality of personal data and conflict with anti-missile legislation. The association’s letter, supported by major banks in the country, including Sberbank, VTB, Alfa-Bank, Tinkoff, Gazprombank, and others, states, “The concept of the bill cannot be supported.”