Bank of Russia Chief Inspection

The Bank of Russia Chief Inspection exercises the functions of on-site supervision with regard to virtually all organisations supervised by the Bank of Russia as the mega-regulator. The list of organisations examined by the Chief Inspection include credit, insurance, clearing and microfinance institutions, non-governmental pension funds, repositories, joint-stock investment funds, credit history bureaus, consumer credit and housing savings cooperatives, pawnshops, national payment system entities, etc. (around 35 types of entities — financial market participants engaged in more than 22 various activity types).

The main objective of Bank of Russia inspections is to obtain at specific locations information needed by the Bank of Russia to assess compliance with legal requirements by the supervised entity.

Inspections imply the following actions: assessments of the reliability of records (reporting), asset quality, size and adequacy of equity (capital), governance quality, including the quality of the risk management system and the state of internal control; examination of compliance with the requirements for financial sustainability and solvency of the supervised entity; identification of threats to the interests of banking and financial consumers, including banks’ creditors and depositors, investors in financial markets, insured persons, including under compulsory pension insurance plans.

Findings of inspections are used for further decision making on the application of supervisory response measures.

The Chief Inspection comprises inspection units — interregional inspection centres located in the majority of Russian federal districts and head office units ensuring organisational, logistic, information analysis and methodological support for inspection units.

The Chief Inspection conducts inspections in close contact with almost all structural units of the Bank of Russia which may initiate inspection procedures. Moreover, the Chief Inspection interacts with various organisations outside the Bank of Russia, including the State Corporation Deposit Insurance Agency, the Pension Fund of the Russian Federation, audit companies, and law enforcement authorities.