The Bank of Russia signaled on Friday it...
"We are considering a regulation canceling the registration of new exchange offices,... it could be adopted later this year," board member Mikhail Sukhov, who heads the Central Bank"s department for licensing credit organizations, said.
The banker said the idea behind the "pro-transparency" move was to make such offices provide other services than just currency exchange.
Sukhov explained consumers could apply for exchange services at regular bank offices, while the Central Bank could better control currency conversion in banks if exchange offices were banned.
Last year, the Federal Antimonopoly Service pointed to discrepancies between exchange rates inside most offices in Moscow and those posted on their boards.
An Interior Ministry official said most exchange offices in Moscow were involved in fraud, while the police are not authorized to check banks that own questionable exchange offices without a request from the Central Bank.