A decision by Western allies on Saturday to block 'selected' Russian banks from the SWIFT payments system will inflict a crippling economic blow, but also cause much pain to their own companies and banks. And the allies still have room to do more.
Sberbank and VTB have previously said that they were prepared for any developments.
"This is the end of a significant part of the economy," Aleksashenko added. "Half the consumer market is going to disappear. These goods will disappear if payments can't be made for them." "If it is the banks that are already sanctioned, it doesn't really make a difference. But if it is the top 30 Russian banks then that is an entirely different matter," he said.Previously announced U.S. sanctions against a handful of Russian banks including Sberbank and VTB, took direct aim at the vast majority of about $46 billion worth of daily foreign exchange transactions by Russian financial institutions. Those sanctions targeted nearly 80% of all banking assets in Russia.
But SPFS, which limits the size of messages and operates only on weekdays, has found it hard to add foreign members.Over the past few days, even as Ukraine urged Western nations to kick Russia off the payments system and was backed by countries such as Britain, others, such as Germany, worried about the possible impact on their economies and companies.
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