OREANDA-NEWS. September 25, 2013. The State Duma of the Russian Federation adopted in the first reading a draft Federal Law (No. 295767-6) “On Introducing Amendments to Some Legislative Acts of the Russian Federation in the Part of Excluding the Provisions Establishing Advantages for Particular Economic Entities” devised by the Federal Antimonopoly Service.

Currently Part 2 Article 84 of the Family Code, Part 8 Article 6 of the Federal Law “On Additional Guarantees for Social Support of Orphaned Children and Children Without Parental Care” and Part 3 Article 19 of the Federal Law “On Guardianship and Custody” indicate that the funds of the above categories of citizens can be placed exclusively in credit organizations with state participation in the authorized capital.

In the FAS Opinion, these norms create an unreasonable competitive advantage for the state banks while other participants of the banking market are deprived of a possibility to compete for these funds and gain income from depositing them, including a loan interest.

The amendments proposed by the draft Law allowed for depositing the funds of the above categories of citizens in any credit organizations provided that the funds shall be insured within the system of mandatory insurance of deposits of physical persons and their total sum does not exceed the maximum compensation on such deposits.

The draft Law was agreed upon with all interested bodies and agencies including the Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finances, the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Labour and the Ministry of Education and Science. The Government of the Russian Federation approved the draft Law on 6th June 2013.

Adopting the draft Law shall encourage competitive development of the banking market by intensifying activities of small and medium banks, at the same time reducing participation of the state in the legal relations in question.