Russian Banks Have Started Disabling Chats With Other Users in Their Apps, Which Had Become an Alternative Way for Russians to Communicate

Russian banks have started disabling chats with other users in their apps, which had become an alternative way for Russians to communicate

Sber and T-Bank have disabled in their apps the function for dialogues with other users and comments on money transfers, Verstka noticed.

When trying to send a text message in Sber, a warning appears saying that “correspondence is no longer supported,” while “comments on transfers are available in the transaction history.”

Sber support confirmed that the option is “being gradually disabled.” The function began to be deactivated on April 27, and by May 5 dialogues are supposed to be disabled for all clients. In particular, chats are still available for now in the old version of the app.

“Soon it will no longer be possible to send a card, photo, or text,” Sber clarified.

T-Bank support also said the app interface had been updated. The “Chat” section was renamed “Support,” and conversations with other clients were deleted.

The banks did not explain what the changes were connected with. The dialogues were disabled against the backdrop of messenger and VPN blocking in Russia, when correspondence in a banking app had become an alternative way for some people to communicate.

💜In February, RBC, citing sources, wrote that the FSB had banned banks that had not begun installing SORM (the System for Operative Investigative Activities) for storing clients’ correspondence from being added to the “whitelist” of sites. In particular, this measure affected T-Bank and Sber. One source said banks are afraid to install SORM because of the risk of losing clients.

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