Bank of Russia’s Chief rules out mandatory conversion from foreign currency to rubles

The Bank of Russia’s Chief Elvira Nabiullina said there should be no compulsory conversion of currency into rubles, speaking at a press conference following a meeting of the Board of Directors of the regulator.

"Citizens should have a choice - to leave their funds in foreign currency or convert them into rubles," she added.

"Our position was and still is that if this is not provided for by agreements, there should be no forced conversion of currency into rubles, and citizens-clients should have a choice - to leave their funds in foreign currency, taking risks, commissions, and so on, or convert to rubles," Nabiullina said.

The head of the Bank of Russia noted that now people are actively exchanging foreign currency of those countries, which imposed sanctions, for rubles or the currency of friendly countries.

"We will carefully monitor that citizens and clients have enough time to make this choice consciously," Nabiullina added.

Earlier, the Bank of Russia repeatedly stated that mandatory conversion is not being considered, since "this measure can only undermine confidence in the banking system." The regulator noted that if a company or individual entrepreneur decides to keep money in "toxic" currencies, then such clients will share the risk of frozen funds with the bank.