Column by Maxim Builov on the prospects of the interbank messenger of the member countries of the Asian Exchange Union
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At the beginning of the week, the Iranian publication Kayhan reported that the Asian Exchange Union (ABS) plans to launch an interbank messenger in June, which will replace the SWIFT system for member countries of the association. The ABS includes Iran, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, Bhutan and the Maldives. The member countries of the union account for about 11% of world GDP at purchasing power parity. The introduction of a new messenger, according to a representative of the Central Bank of Iran, will significantly reduce the cost of exchanging financial and payment information between participants.
At the first stage, it is planned that the messenger will be intended only for members of the union, but this does not mean that access to it will be closed for Russia. According to media reports, negotiations are underway with more than 20 countries in different regions of the world in order to join the union. A visit to Iran last week by a Central Bank delegation led by Elvira Nabiullina suggests that a similar offer was made to Russia.
In January, representatives of the Central Bank of the Russian Federation and Iran have already signed an agreement on work to simplify financial and banking operations. The financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia has merged with SEPAM (System for Electronic Payments Messaging) of the Central Bank of Iran.
Thus, there should be no technological problems with connecting Russian banks to the new Asian messenger. And if we take into account the numerous statements about plans to simplify mutual settlements with other countries of the union, such as India and Sri Lanka, there should not be political difficulties either. And not only from the side of the Asian Exchange Union itself, but also from the side of the Russian regulator.
Even the generally obvious fact that for the sake of negotiations with the Central Bank of Iran, Elvira Nabiullina, known for her love of brooches, exchanged her usual jewelry for a scarf (the example of the head was followed by the first deputy chairman of the Central Bank Olga Skorobogatova and director of the department of the national payment system of the Bank of Russia Alla Bakina), in the market tend to interpret as the maximum interest in cooperation with the banks of the Islamic Republic.
Another question is whether anything will be transmitted via the new messenger to Myanmar and Bhutan. Actually, even with India, with which the Russian Federation is actively trading today, settlements in national currencies face great difficulties, since the ratio of the participating rubles and rupees is far from balanced. According to data for 2021, Russia’s exports to India were twice as high as imports, and last year it should have increased, and possibly several times, while imports could hardly have increased that much.
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