Sberbank, Russia’s largest bank by assets, serves a considerable part of the country’s population. One in every two companies has an account there, according to the bank. Gazprombank, meanwhile, is a major conduit for oil and energy-related payments.
Europe relies heavily on energy imports from Russia, and the U.S. administration and EU authorities have said they would protect money flows for that purpose, although that could change if the situation in Ukraine further deteriorates. In the U.S, high inflation, visible through gas prices, are also heaping pressure on the Biden administration to make sure sanctions don’t boomerang back on American consumers. The U.S. and other nations said they would tap emergency crude oil stocks to alleviate pressure on global supply.
On Tuesday, Poland pushed hard for the EU to delist all Russian banks. Other EU countries weren’t convinced but they promised that they would come back to discuss adding other banks, including potentially Belarus banks, in the coming days.
Gazprombank so far dodged tough sanctions imposed on other Russian banks like VTB. Sberbank has also been spared by the EU and the U.K. The U.S. hit the lender with a sanction that basically blocked it from the U.S. dollar. Sberbank, however, can continue to do business with U.S. companies and individuals.
Sberbank stated on its Telegram channel that “due to sanctions, from March 18, 2022, the list of currencies available for transfers to other banks in Russia and abroad has been restricted (…) This means that Sberbank will not be able to make transfers to other banks in U.S. dollars, Canadian dollars, pounds sterling, Danish crowns and Swedish krona."
Transfers of some currencies, including roubles, euros, Japanese yen and Swiss francs, remain possible at Sberbank branches.
Several Russian banks have bien banned from the SWIFT international payments network, hampering their efforts to move money outside of Russia, but operations within the country have remained largely unscathed until now.