The first problems with payments to Russian customers at the Chinese bank Chouzhou Commercial Bank began in early February, and currently all transactions are banned.
Following Turkish banks refusing to work with Russian citizens in early February for fear of being exposed to secondary sanctions, Russian suppliers are also experiencing problems with financial transactions in China. As Vedomosti newspaper reported, citing its sources, Chouzhou Commercial Bank, the key Chinese bank for importers from the Russian Federation, has stopped transactions with Russian and Belarusian entities.
The bank was the main institution through which Russian importers could make payments. Chouzhou offered soft compliance terms, and the financial institution also had a favorable geographical location; Its headquarters is located in the city of Yiwu, which is one of the main logistics centers for Chinese exports to Russia and is also called the “world supermarket”.
Problems with payments in Chinese banks have worsened since the end of 2023, when the United States warned of the risks of repeated sanctions. The bank then informed its customers that it would block transactions with any Russian or Belarusian entities. The first lockdowns began last week, causing deals to fail.
“With Chinese New Year almost upon us, the halt in payments means a logistics collapse is almost inevitable; Exports of goods will not be possible until at least March due to the long weekend that will start and end on February 10. Until the 17th,” the publication says.
Another interlocutor of the newspaper, an entrepreneur from Izhevsk who buys equipment for machine tools in China, said that he first received a message from Chouzhou in December warning about stopping payments for a certain list of products. As the interlocutor noted, these goods are under Western sanctions, so they cannot be imported into the territory of the Russian Federation.
At the same time, as the entrepreneur noted, a few weeks later the bank manager announced a complete cessation of transactions with Russia, regardless of the product or payment currency.
“Transactions were stopped not only using SWIFT, but also its Russian analogue SPFS or Chinese CIPS,” journalists write.
Turkish banks closed accounts of Russian companies: details
Turkish banks do not want to serve customers who started cooperating after the large-scale invasion of the Russian Armed Forces into Ukrainian territory in 2022. According to financial advisor Iskander Mirgalimov, banks do not serve corporate clients of “Russian origin”. According to him, this applies to oil and gas traders and people who use Turkey as a transit zone for supplies and certain payments.
Note that in December 2023, US President Joe Biden issued a decree on secondary sanctions, which further worsened the situation of Russian banks. As a result, Turkish financial institutions cut correspondent relations with almost all Russian credit institutions.
Let us remind you that, according to the news of the Associated Press dated January 25, the Russian Federation is deprived of Europe’s largest offshore company. Thus, Cypriot banks blocked more than 100 thousand accounts. Overall, Cypriot banks closed the accounts of 82% of customers in the Russian Federation from 2014 to 2022.
Source: Focus
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