The head of VTB reported an increase in refusals of payments from banks of friendly countries

Head of VTB (MOEX: VTBR) Andrei Kostin reported that credit institutions from countries friendly to Russia began to more often refuse payments to Russian banks, Reuters reports. More than 40 banks are under Western sanctions and the number of foreign credit institutions ready to cooperate continues to decline, Mr. Kostin clarified at congress Association of Russian Banks.

At the congress, the head of VTB also said that non-state pension funds could increase investments in shares from the current 10% to 15-20%. As Andrey Kostin added, in other countries the share of such investments is 50-60%.

Since the end of 2023, foreign banks began to refuse to work with Russian ones due to the risks of US sanctions. Large Chinese banks, as well as credit organizations from Turkey and the UAE, have stopped accepting payments from Russia.

In February, the United States also imposed sanctions against the operator of the Mir payment system, after which banks in Kyrgyzstan and Armenia stopped working with it. “VTB Armenia” reported, which will continue to work with Russian cards in full. According to TASS, VTB Bank (Kazakhstan) continues to service Mir cards, whereas previously a number of Kazakh banks stopped servicing them.

Read more in the Kommersant FM article. “Armenia puts ”Peace” on pause”.

Petr Buzlaev