Dear colleagues, In view of discussions at the end of last year on this mailing list, the RIPE NCC has investigated several options on how to improve making payments to the RIPE NCC. Over the past months, the RIPE NCC has been in contact with ZAO Unicredit Bank to discuss several options. Before the RIPE NCC decides on how to proceed, we would like to share these different options with you and would like to hear your opinion and/or preference on the various options. 1. To open a local bank account in Russia in RUB: Russian members could transfer payments to the RIPE NCC via a domestic payment in RUB. The issues with this solution are: - The RIPE NCC will continue to send its invoices in EUR. It may be difficult or not possible to make a payment in RUB when presented with an invoice in EUR. - As a result of exchange rate differences, payments may be too low or too high - Transferring from such an account to the Netherlands may prove difficult - It has been difficult to establish clear communication with the local Russian bank and to get confirmation on certain legal aspects, so at this point in time it is unclear when precisely we could have such a bank account in Russia operational 2. To open a local bank account in Russia in EUR: Russian members could transfer payments to the RIPE NCC via a domestic payment in EUR. The issues with this solution are: - Transferring from such an account to the Netherlands may prove difficult - It has been difficult to establish clear communication with the local Russian bank and to get confirmation on certain legal aspects, so at this point in time it is unclear when precisely we could have such a bank account in Russia operational 3. To open a bank account in the Netherlands in RUB: Russian members could transfer payments to the RIPE NCC via a foreign payment in RUB. The issues with this solution are: - It is unclear whether this facilitates Russian members in making payments to the RIPE NCC - This facility would be easy to set up and could be operational within a two weeks Please let us know if any of the options mentioned above would facilitate your ability to settle your invoices with the RIPE NCC and what your preferred option would be. Best regards, Jochem de Ruig Chief Financial Officer RIPE NCC