Seven Russian banks: Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB) and VTB Bank will be barred from the system in the next ten days, the European commission said today in a press release. In addition, the EU has prohibited investing in projects co-financed by the Russian Direct Investment Fund and has ceased the provision of euro-denominated banknotes to Russia. The ban will take effect within the next ten days to give Swift and other operators a brief transition period to implement the measure, thereby mitigating any possible negative impacts for EU businesses and financial markets, the European commission said in its statement. Depending on Russia's behaviour, the commission is prepared to add further Russian banks at short notice, the statement noted. Swift is an independent enterprise based in Belgium that provides a messaging system linking more than 11,000 banks and financial institutions in over 200 countries and territories. Nearly 400 of the network’s identification codes are for Russian participants.
Sovcombank is one of the largest banks in Russia. Copyright (c) 2021 Denis Kabelev/Shutterstock. No use without permission.
The European Union on 2 March agreed to exclude key Russian banks from the Swift system, the world's dominant financial messaging system.