The National Bank of Tajikistan (NBT) on January 10 granted a five-year operating license to a popular Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona (golden Crown).
The NBT press center says the accounting non-bank credit institution “Platyozhnyi Tsentr” (Payment Center) is the operator of this payment system.
Zolotaya Korona had operated in Tajikistan until 2020, accounting for more than 80 percent of the volume of international money transfers in the country.
On December 3, 2019, the National Processing Center for Remittance Management began operating in Tajikistan. It means that all cross-border remittances without opening a bank account must be repaid through this Center.
Zolotaya Korona refused connection to the Center justifying its decision by saying that the new procedure disagrees with the Russian legislation.
Meanwhile, the Central Bank of Russia said in December 2019 that connection of the money transfer company Zolotaya Korona to the NBT transfer processing center does not conflict with the country’s legislation.
“Russia’s legislation permits connection of payment systems, carrying out cross-border money transfer transactions engaged, to the transfer processing center of the National Bank of Tajikistan. There is no need to amend the Federal Law No 161 “On the National Payment System” for this,” representative of the press center of the Central Bank of Russia told Radio Ozodi in an interview.
The then-First Deputy Chairperson of the National Bank of Tajikistan, Jamoliddin Nouraliyev, told reporters in Dushanbe on February 5, 2020 that compliance mechanism of Zolotaya Korona does not meet the requirements.
According to him, the wiring companies profiting from the large volume of remittances being sent home by migrant laborers, who predominantly live in Russia, are failing to perform necessary checks.
Nouraliyev also noted on February 5, 2020 that the terrorists, who killed four foreign cyclists in the Danghara district in 2018, were financed via Zolotaya Korona. “After the NBT became aware of the issue, a new payment system, the National Processing Center, took over the transmission of money transfers from abroad in early December 2019,” Nouraliyev said.
He further noted that some lending agencies have complained that Zolotaya Korona, exploiting its monopoly position in the market, has put pressure on them.
Zolotaya Korona had for years occupied a dominant position in Tajikistan’s market. Until December 2019, the company reportedly accounted for 82 percent of the volume of international money transfers in the country.
