CBR Calls On Banks to Establish Alternative to SWIFT amid Sanctions | Russia | RIA Novosti

CBR Calls On Banks to Establish Alternative to SWIFT amid Sanctions | Russia | RIA Novosti:



"The Central Bank of Russia has urged the country’s banking community to establish alternative channels of interbank communications to replace the SWIFT (Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunications) system, Kommersant reported Thursday, citing a CBR letter.



The letter, obtained by Kommersant, was sent to Russian banking institutions in early August, a few days after the United States and the European Union introduced new sanctions against some Russian banks. In the document, the central bank argues that the creation of integrated national financial messaging infrastructure is an issue of national economic security.



The vast majority of bank-to-bank transactions are conducted via SWIFT, which allows foreign banks to request information concerning clients and block operations if the obtained data does not satisfy them. The transition to a communications channel unrestricted by Western regulations would take at least a year, a banking expert told Kommersant."



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