Yury Bogdanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank, acted as a speaker at the Russian Banks Association Council meeting on the topic of using the digital ruble for settlements in the budget sector.

The meeting was attended by representatives of the Bank of Russia, the Federal Antimonopoly Service, and leading financial organizations of the country. The participants focused on issues of tokenization of non-cash funds, introduction of the digital ruble, as well as on the approaches to regulating the bank deposit advertising.

The experts discussed the postponement of the mass introduction of the digital ruble by the Bank of Russia, which was announced at the end of February. This decision led to active discussions, including on the practical benefits of the new payment and settlement instrument. The particular attention of the participants was drawn to the presentation of Yury Bogdanov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of Directors of Center-invest Bank. The audience included the heads of the Bank of Russia’s sectoral departments, the chairman of the relevant committee of the State Duma and the deputy speaker of the Federation Council. Yury Bogdanov presented in detail the possibilities offered by the digital ruble in the context of performing the tasks of financing the regional budget, including a new mechanism for advance payment of budget expenditures, and revealed the advantages of accelerating settlements for the constituent entities of the Russian Federation.

"The use of the digital ruble in inter-budgetary and regional settlements significantly expands the possibilities for effective financial interaction. The new instrument makes it possible to significantly reduce the transfer time, minimize the risks typical of conventional transactions, and reduce the need for liquidity, which is extremely important in view of the current level of interest rates. Center-invest Bank, which has considerable experience and is an active participant in the Bank of Russia’s pilot project on the introduction of the digital ruble, is ready to provide comprehensive support to the regions in organizing and optimizing the settlement process," Mr. Bogdanov said.

Center-invest Bank is currently testing the internal systems for launching the commercial operation of digital ruble payments for legal entities.