According to the publication, this bank was the main settlement center for Russian importers doing business with China.
Sources told reporters that last week Chouzhou Commercial Bank sent out notices to cease operations with any Russian or Belarusian entities. Because of this, several deals have already fallen through. The bank stopped transactions not only using SWIFT, but also the Russian financial messaging system (SPFS) and the Chinese CIPS, entrepreneurs say.
Vedomosti’s interlocutors noted that the movement of funds in national payment systems, unlike SWIFT, cannot be tracked directly, but transactions are visible in bank reports, which Western counterparties can request.
An entrepreneur from Izhevsk told the newspaper that in December Chouzhou Commercial Bank notified him of stopping payments for a certain list of goods whose import into Russia was prohibited by Western sanctions, and a few weeks after that it announced a complete cessation of cooperation.
Other Chinese banks, according to entrepreneurs, are also tightening the rules for working with clients from Russia. They, in particular, require confirmation that the buyer of the goods did not have contacts with individuals and companies included in the sanctions lists, and that the products will not be used for the needs of the defense complex or supplied to the Ukrainian Crimea annexed by Russia, the article says.
Context
Sanctions against Russia were introduced in response to its aggression against Ukraine back in 2014. After the full-scale invasion of Russian troops on February 24, 2022, the restrictions were significantly expanded.
2024-02-09 10:01:42
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