The Bank of Russia’s First Deputy Governor Olga Skorobogatova will leave the central bank on December 2, the central bank announced. She worked in the private sector until joining the central bank in 2014. Ms Skorobogatova oversaw the national payment system, IT and financial technology, including the digital ruble central bank digital currency (CBDC). She is being replaced by Zulfiya Kakhrumanova, the central bank’s IT director. First Deputy Governor Dmitry Tulin will oversee the national payment system.
The digital ruble is scheduled to start its mass rollout in July 2025, when large banks will be obligated to support the CBDC. There were intentions for a second wave of banks to onboard in January 2024, but that had not happened by October.
“Olga Skorobogatova is one of the main architects of a great number of key innovative projects in the Russian financial market. Her strategic vision and ability to implement complex technological solutions have helped Russia create a state-of-the-art payment infrastructure that we are justifiably proud of,” said Bank of Russia Governor Elvira Nabiullina.
“The importance of this infrastructure for the country became evident in 2022. A large number of convenient services that dozens of millions of people use daily have been developed largely owing to Olga Skorobogatova’s efforts, her decisiveness, commitment, and professional excellence. She has inspired the advancement of financial and payment technologies at the Bank of Russia for many years ahead. I am grateful to Olga Skorobogatova for her work and wish her success.”
Russia’s sanctions workarounds
Since invading Ukraine, sanctions on Russia have led it to explore numerous workarounds. Payments to China were routed via Russian subsidiaries or third tier Chinese banks, but the US Treasury’s OFAC gradually sanctioned those. There were plans to use crypto exchanges and tokenized gold and commodities (Russia’s tokenized financial assets). OFAC added all the high profile players to sanction lists. Hence, as the avenues narrow, the pressure to launch a CBDC must be mounting.
Russia is one of the key promoters of BRICS Bridge, a cross border payment concept similar to the mBridge multi-CBDC solution. The Bank for International Settlements (BIS) Innovation Hub was involved with mBridge until this month, when it ‘graduated’. The Head of the BIS previously stated it could not be involved with a platform involving sanctioned entities.
Both Nabiullina and Skorobogatova have been on the OFAC sanction list since September 2022. Around the time of the central bank announcement yesterday, OFAC expanded the sanctions to another 11 central bank employees, including those responsible for maintaining Russia’s international financial connectivity. That included Tulin, but not Kakhrumanova.
Nabiullina is widely regarded, including by Putin. Last year the Financial Times published an analysis, exploring how Nabiullina may have wanted to avoid the Russian people suffering financial hardship because of the war. But in doing so, she has enabled Putin.
A few days after the war started, “Nabiullina, whose attire has long been closely watched by some investors for coded signals, sat dressed all in black,” the FT authors wrote.
“When faced with a historic chance to defend their belief in open markets and speak out against the war, they demurred. Instead of breaking with Putin, the technocrats have cemented their role as his enablers.”
