@littleruss Yoomoney may be technically a “wallet” but in practice it functions in a very similar manner to a regular bank account. It is not linked to any other bank account and the Yoomoney cards deduct funds only from that wallet - exactly the same way that a standard debit card account works. Funding the account is also similar to funding a regular bank account, e.g. through bank transfers, cash deposits via ATMs, or debit card payments.
However, a Yoomoney account is less flexible than a regular bank account. For example, you can only transfer 3500 roubles a day to another (Russian) bank without paying a 3% commission. So from my point of view that is one of the strongest arguments for not having a large amount of money sitting in your Yoomoney account.
Yoomoney also does not have any savings accounts, which contrasts with a regular bank such as T-Bank, where it is straightforward matter to place any surplus funds in an easy access savings account, typically with an attractive rate of interest.
So undoubtedly an account at a regular bank is preferable. The problem is that before you can set up a regular bank account you need to have a Russian phone number, and as previously discussed this is a convoluted process that can only be done in Russia. The big selling point of Yoomoney is that you can set up an account without a Russian phone number and before you even set foot in Russia. You can even have the MIR card posted to you in your home country before you travel.
Q1 So what is the “safe” maximum people usually store in yoomoney wallet? is 3k usd equivalent of rubles too much?
This presumably depends on how much you plan to spend. Before and during my trip to Russia I deposited something like 100,000 roubles in my Yoomoney account, but in retrospect I regretted putting so much in because of the restrictions on transferring unspent money out again (to a Russian bank, not out the country, which is completely impossible). The 3500 rouble a day limit meant I had to do this over the course of a couple of weeks to avoid the commission.
Q2 for those unable to receive sms verification to foreign numbers, are they doing manual tracking of yoomoney wallet spend since unable to login into yoomoney app?
Yoomoney doesn’t use SMS codes at all. You log in to the app using a permanent passcode that you select yourself, not by typing in a code sent by SMS. There is no problem logging into the app once you have left the country.
Q3 the T-bank account available for foreigner, is it a checking or savings account? are you able to log into online banking once you leave Russia and no longer have access to the Russia mobile number (for otp or other reasons)?
The accounts are exactly the same as the ones available to Russian citizens, including a full range of savings accounts as well as a current account linked to the debit card. As I mentioned above, it makes most sense to park your funds in an easy access savings account, transferring it to the debit card account as needed.
It is possible to receive all verification codes via app notifications instead of via SMS, so yes, one can still log into online banking even without receiving SMS messages.
i also read that Raiffeisenbank, Unicredit, Citibank, Ak-Bars Bank, Home Credit Bank, Russian Standard, OTP Bank, Renaissance Bank, Avangard are not on the sanction list. maybe this list is obsolete and some have been axed.
This list is not correct. I suppose it is several years out of date. Every one of the Russian banks in this list has been sanctioned. As far as the four Western banks are concerned, UniCredit and Citibank no longer offer retail banking services in Russia. Citibank has in fact exited the country altogether, and UniCredit is in the final stages of doing so.
I think Raiffeisen also claims to be winding down its Russian operations (like UniCredit, it has been under strong pressure to do so from the EU). It no longer seems to offer the full range of retail banking services.
So I think OTP is now the only Western bank in Russia that is still operating a normal full-scale retail banking business. It has in fact been expanding its operations. It is exceptional among Western banks because Orban was notoriously opposed to Western sanctions and friendly towards Putin. Orban is now out of power but for now, at least, OTP is still going strong in Russia.
I know from experience that it is a relatively straightforward matter for a foreigner to set up an account at OTP in Russia, so if it is important for you to have an account at a non-sanctioned bank, OTP may nowadays be your best bet.
That assumes that you already have a Russian phone number, but once you have got one it is relatively straightforward to set up a bank account. That is assuming you either speak Russian (as I did in a branch of OTP), or have arranged by phone to find an appropriate staff member who speaks English.
Q4 what is the reason foreigners are not opening bank accounts with these nonsanctioned banks in Russia, since it will allow them to transfer money from their non-Russia bank account to it safely without shut down (well, in theory at least)?
As discussed above, there are in fact not so many non-sanctioned banks left (but OTP is one). Having an account at a non-sanctioned bank might not be as big an advantage as it sounds, because I think that most Western banks simply refuse to carry out any transactions with Russia. This kind of blanket restriction on the whole country is more straightforward for them than trying to differentiate between individual banks in Russia.
My understanding talking to expats in Russia is that they cannot typically receive money transfers from their Western banks to an account in Russia, even at a non-sanctioned bank such as Raiffeisen. Instead, they have to set up a bank account in a country such as Kazakhstan, which can then be used as an intermediary account.
