Kostin announced the need to directly connect Russian banks to CIPS

The head of VTB, Andrey Kostin, said that Russian banks should be directly connected to the Chinese settlement system CIPS (a local analogue of SWIFT), Reuters reports. The Russian banker made a statement at the Russian-Chinese Business Forum in Shanghai.

“Against the background of the explosive growth of cross-border payments between Russia and China — more than 200% in the last quarter only through our bank — the need for direct connection of Russian banks to the CIPS system is increasingly felt,” Mr. Kostin said.

The head of VTB also called for expanding the market for yuan deposits and financial instruments in Russia available to investors on the Chinese stock market. Mr. Kostin pointed out that the share of the yuan in the structure of foreign currency savings of Russians has already amounted to 11%. “Today, for the Russian economy, the yuan has actually become a replacement for the dollar. A significant and still unsatisfied demand for yuan liquidity from Russian companies and citizens has formed,” the head of VTB emphasized.

Since the beginning of the military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine, the European Union (EU) has disconnected more than ten largest Russian banks from the international SWIFT system. From October 1, 2023, the regulator will prohibit the use of foreign services (including SWIFT) for the transfer of financial messages in the domestic market.

More about this – in the material “Kommersant” “SWIFT is disconnected from the inside”.

Grigory Leiba