An internal document of JSC Alfa-Bank Russia that has become publicly available…

Internal document released to the public JSC Alfa Bank Russia in which risk managers of a financial institution express concerns and report the possibility of a sharp deterioration in the security of customer accounts (third parties will be able to gain unauthorized access to accounts, PIN codes will no longer work, and contactless payment will become impossible) due to the departure of a French company from Russia Thales Groupalthough refuted by the bank itself, is actually not without meaning.

Based on technical solutions of a French company Thales Groupor rather on its hardware security modules (HSM modules), security products Thales e-Security and management tools “Thales Payment” providing processing of retail payments and delivery of PIN codes via the Internet based work 80% of all Russian banking.

Currently, the company Thales Group did not leave the Russian market, but plans to suspend cooperation with Russia, which means the Russian banking system is highly likely to face a temporary collapse. In this connection, how reported newspaper “Kommersant” a meeting took place back in April 2022 Central Bank with participants in the financial market, where a decision was made on the need to promptly replace foreign (HSM modules) domestic. At the same time, it was argued that a complete transition to domestic systems could take at least nine months. In May of this year in Central Bank approved a “road map” for testing domestic (HSM modules) to which a number of banks have joined, but about participation JSC Alfa Bank Russia in testing not reported.

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The latter means that the risks for clients JSC Alfa Bank Russia at some point, the bank will stop servicing their bank cards, much higher than for clients of a number of other Russian banks. Moreover, recently JSC Alfa Bank Russia is already named among those financial institutions about whose activities clients most often complain – we are also talking about outright deception on the part of the bank regarding savings accounts, refusal to help clients transfer their brokerage accounts to another broker, imposition of expensive insurance services when issuing loan products and refusals related to the issuance of foreign currency at bank cash desks).