Anna Skrinnik has commented for DP on the inclusion of small regional banks in the US sanctions lists
At the end of November, the US updated the SDN list of blocking sanctions. It includes more than 50 Russian banks, more than 20 registrar companies, and securities infrastructure companies. Among the sanctions newcomers are six St Petersburg banks, most of which do not even have their own mobile apps, which could now disappear from Apple or Google applications.
‘By adding small regional banks to the SDN-list, the US Department of the Treasury seeks to once again complicate Russia’s use of the international financial system. The inclusion of large Russian credit organisations in the sanctions list has not led to a halt in settlements: market participants have adapted to the realities by continuing to work through small but non-sanctioned banks. The events of the last few days have made settlements with foreign counterparties many times more difficult, starting with the increase in the duration of compliance procedures and ending with the refusal to carry out transactions due to the threat of secondary sanctions. And if the imposition of sanctions becomes a serious blow even for large banks, small banks may face a significant outflow of clients and, as a consequence, a decrease in liquidity. It is also important that the capacity of large banks allows the latter to more easily re-equip their payments through alternative financial structures, while medium and small banks will not be able to reorganise themselves so quickly under the new realities. The sanctions imposed on 21 November in the context of the existing sanctions cannot be called a verdict for the participants of the Russian financial market, but it will require a significant amount of effort to maintain the work at the current level both from the participants themselves and from the state’, Anna Skrinnik, Associate at Maxima Legal, commented on the inclusion of small regional banks in the US sanctions lists especially for Delovoy Peterburg newspaper.
To read the full article (in Russian), please see Delovoy Peterburg newspaper`s website >>>