The Criminal Code establishes penalties for various economic crimes. Illegal acts as one of them. banking activities. Art. 172 of the Criminal Code determines the punishment for this act. Consider the norm in detail. 
Art. 172 of the Criminal Code: corpus delicti
Carrying out operations by a financial and credit organization without registration or in the absence of a license (special permit), if required, is punishable by:
- Cash recovery from 100 to 400 thousand rubles. or a fine, the amount of which is the income of the offender for 1-2 years.
- Imprisonment.
- Forced labor.
The last two sentences may be imposed for up to 4 years. Moreover, imprisonment may be accompanied by a fine of up to 80 thousand rubles. or making up the amount of income for six months. Sentence of Art. 172 of the Criminal Code of the Russian Federation shall be appointed if unlawful actions entailed major damage to individuals, organizations or the state or involved in making a profit in the amount considered to be large. 
Aggravating circumstances
Indicated in the first part of Art. 172 of the Criminal Code, acts may be committed:
- Organized group.
- With a profit in the amount recognized as particularly large.
In these cases, the perpetrators are threatened by:
- Forced labor lasting up to 5 years.
- Up to 7 years in prison.
By the last sentence, the court may additionally impose a fine of up to 1 million p. or constituting an entity’s income for a period of up to 5 years.
Comments
Public relations arising from the implementation of financial and credit operations constitute the object to which illegal banking is directed. Art. 172 of the Criminal Code determines the cases in which it is applied. In particular, the punishment is imposed if the organization carries out operations without a registration or license (if it is required). The registration procedure is provided for by law. In particular, its mandatory nature is established in the Federal Law "On the Central Bank", "On Banks and Their Activities". According to the provisions of regulatory acts, any financial and credit structure, acting as a legal entity, must be registered in accordance with the rules established by law. 
Registration specifics
Registration of banking organizations is carried out in accordance with the laws specified above. This procedure is carried out by the Central Bank. Licensing and registration are made no later than six months from the date of submission of the required documents. At the same time, the specifics of the package of papers required by the applicant should be taken into account. The functioning of the financial and credit organization will act as one of the forms of the objective part of the crime described in art. 172 of the Criminal Code, only if it is carried out without acquiring legal entity status.
Nuances
The financial and credit structure is entitled to conduct banking activities of any kind provided for in the charter, if it is permitted by law. Work in some areas, including those related to settlement operations, is carried out only in accordance with the license. It is worth paying attention to the wording of the sign of the objective part of the crime, which is provided for by Art. 172 of the Criminal Code. Normally, two concepts are used. The first is banking, the second is operations. In the provisions of the article, the latter is enclosed in brackets.A grammatical interpretation of this turnover should indicate the identity of concepts. Indeed, after analyzing federal norms in the field of banking, it can be argued that in terms of meaning these terms are very similar. Meanwhile, the concept of "banking operations" is considered in a broader sense than "activity". 
The importance of differentiating terms
If the organization conducts banking activities or carries out certain operations without a license, then difficulties in qualifying a crime, as a rule, do not arise. Meanwhile, in judicial investigative practice, there are various situations. For example:
- A legal entity, having a license issued by the Central Bank for performing specific operations that are not related to those actions, the complex of which allows to characterize its activities as a whole as banking, nevertheless carries them out.
- In accordance with the Regulation governing the process of revoking a license, the organization has been canceled permission to conduct certain calculations. However, the legal entity, despite the ban, still fulfills them.
In the first case, the act qualifies as illegal activity, and in the second - the illegal commission of operations.
Subjective part
Crime established by Art. 172 of the Criminal Code, characterizes the presence of guilt in an intentional form. When sentencing, the goals and motives of the perpetrators are taken into account. Any individual who is sane and has reached the age of 16 may be the subject of a crime. The head of a commercial enterprise, a person who has a certain characteristic (for example, an employee of a financial institution), and a citizen who does not work in this organization can be guilty.
