Bank of Russia onboards more commercial banks for digital ruble pilot

As the digital ruble pilot moves forward, the Bank of Russia has enlisted more commercial banks to join its central bank digital currency (CBDC) experiments.

Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina confirmed the development in an interview with local news outlet RIA Novosti, noting that 17 lenders have joined the initial group of commercial banks for the pilot. Russia’s largest financial institution, Sberbank , leads the list after its absence in the first tranche of participants. Central bank executives downplayed Sberbank’s absence at the time, hinting at a phased approach to developing the digital ruble.

The selected banks will join an exclusive list made up of Transcapitalbank, Sovcombank, Sinara Bank, Gazpkrombank, VTB, Ingosstrakh Bank, Alfa Bank, and Rosbank, among others.

In mid-2023, Russia’s central bank launched the digital ruble pilot after establishing a legal framework by the State Duma. Within weeks, the central bank onboarded 13 leading commercial banks for the first phase of experiments with 600 retail participants and 30 merchants.

With an expanded list of 30 banks, analysts predict a larger pool of merchants and retail participants for the digital pilot. In the coming weeks, the central bank is expected to test the waters with a range of use cases for both retail and wholesale versions of the offering.

Nabiullina disclosed that the central bank would focus on cross-border functionalities for the digital ruble, hinting at new bilateral agreements with allies; China and other BRICS nations are touted as potential partners for Russia’s foray into a cross-border CBDC.

“When creating the digital ruble platform, we included the possibility of its integration with similar foreign platforms,” said Nabiullina. “We are currently conducting consultations and negotiations with many friendly countries and, of course, with the BRICS countries, on cross-border payments through digital currencies.”

A range of functionalities

Apart from the plans to explore cross-border features for the digital ruble, Russia is eyeing programmability capabilities for the CBDC. The central bank said the programmability feature will be vital in expanding the use cases of the digital ruble while stifling the activities of money launderers and terrorism financiers.

The banking regulator is targeting free digital ruble transfers in an attempt to onboard users to the CBDC platform.

“Free transfers of digital rubles for any amount is one of the main advantages of the national digital currency,” said the banking regulator. “This will allow citizens not to depend on the conditions and limits that banks set for their transfers.”