British bank HSBC, the country’s largest bank by assets, stops accepting payments from Russia. The sanctions imposed by the bank also apply to Belarus. This was reported by Reuters.
HSBC does not disclose the reasons for the new ban on payments. The bank has sent out a notice to customers warning that the ban will affect individuals and is imposed on any transactions from these countries.
In May 2022, HSBC announced its withdrawal from the Russian market. However, due to the administrative influence of the dictatorial regime, it could not sell its assets in Russia. Subsequently, in the summer of 2023, HSBC stopped servicing payments for Russian companies that used the bank’s Hong Kong branch for transactions with Asia. It was only in late spring 2024, two years later, that the bank managed to sell Expobank in the Russian domestic market. In a statement, Expobank said that the institution will continue to operate, but under a new, unspecified name.
The imposition of sanctions by HSBC came a few days after the US imposed restrictions on Russian banks. The U.S. Treasury Department has disconnected 50 Russian banks from the SWIFT international payment system, including the state-owned Gazprombank. In addition, the US Treasury Department has also warned global credit organizations of sanctions for cooperation with Russia’s “SWIFT analog” (Financial Messaging System – FMS).
European banks are under increasing pressure from Washington and the European Central Bank to withdraw from Russia. The next in line to leave Russia is Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International, which is currently the largest European lender with operations in Russia. It is followed by the Italian financial institution UniCredit.
