Foreign banks to be able to open representative offices or branches in Belarus

Foreign banks will be able to open representative offices or branches in Belarus. This is the aim of amendments to the Law "On Currency Regulation and Currency Control."

On January 13, the House of Representatives supported the document in its first reading. Its goal is to improve the business climate and increase the transparency of financial transactions between economic entities.

Andrei Kartun, Deputy Chairmen of the Board of the National Bank:

"The most important thing for our economic entities is the so-called repatriation principle, or the requirement to return foreign currency earnings. This applies in accordance with current legislation. If we establish a branch of a foreign bank, our economic entities' revenue will be credited there, and this will also be counted as a return of foreign currency earnings. Therefore, we see increased competition. The presence of such branches will, of course, contribute to the expansion of our Belarusian economic entities' cross-border capabilities in terms of export-import operations. We hope that such branches or representative offices of foreign banks will be established not only in our countries, among our main trading partners, but also in promising markets."

With the adoption of the bill, Belarusian organizations will have enlarged access to the benefits of using accounts they open at branches of foreign banks.