Russia's central bank has begun what appears to be a new round in its attempt to clean up the country's banking sector, closing some banks and alleging criminal malpractice at others.

Since the beginning of September, the bank has revoked the licences of six banks and two non-bank credit institutions, and placed another into temporary administration. It has also announced that it has found evidence of questionable transactions in six banks that had already had their licences revoked. The central