Major Chinese banks stopped accepting payments in yuan from Russia and began returning such transactions to customers.
According to Ukrinform, this was reported by The Moscow Times with reference to Oleksiy Poroshin, CEO of First Group JSC.
According to him, at least eight credit organizations are among those who have refused to make Russian payments: Ping An Bank and Bank of Nengbo, which rank 13th and 15th in terms of capitalization, Great Wall West China, Dongguan Rural Commercial, China Guangfa, Kunshan Rural Commercial, Shenzhen Rural Commercial and China Zheshang.
Chinese credit institutions have been blocking yuan payments since mid-January, a source confirmed. It is noted that the new restrictions are caused by fears of possible secondary sanctions and pressure from the United States.
Some banks have informed their clients that they are temporarily suspending yuan transactions with Russia, but have not officially published this information, says Oleg Abelev, head of the analytical department at Rikov-Trust Investment Company.
The publication reminds that for two years now, yuan payments from Russia have not been processed through banks with international participation: CitiBank, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC, JP Morgan, BNP Paribas, Deutsche Bank, and Mizuho Bank.
The refusal to accept payments in yuan will make it more difficult for Russian companies to make payments, says Alexei Tarapovsky, founder of Anderida Financial Group. According to him, payments can be continued in several ways: through a Russian bank, which still accepts payments in China, by opening a branch of the company in China or another “friendly” country, or by partners in Hong Kong. At the same time, about 80% of Russian companies that regularly work with China have already opened branches in “friendly” countries that are not subject to sanctions.
Earlier, it was reported that most Chinese banks had stopped accepting dollar transfers from Russia and began to delay payments due to additional checks. However, transactions in local currencies continued.
The Kremlin said that it had seen the publications about the problems with the payments and promised to discuss the issue in a “close dialogue with Chinese friends.”
