How Russian banks adapted to sanctions

Hello! This week we detail our investigation into how Russian banks are skirting sanctions to transfer money to the EU — the latest in a string of restriction-busting innovations rolled out by the sector amid the Ukraine invasion.

The Central Asian fix: Sending rubles to Europe

Sanctions against Russia over its invasion of Ukraine hit the banking sector hard. Tens of millions of people lost access to everyday services and it became much more difficult to send money abroad. This forced Russian banks to adapt, fast — something they managed to do better than anybody predicted. As The Bell discovered, one leading Russian bank has even set up a way to send money to Europe completely bypassing the SWIFT financial messaging system.

Sanctions innovation

Russian banks have faced a huge number of sanctions and restrictions since February 2022. The most immediate and visible hit came to card payment systems. Russian cards were cut off from the Visa and Mastercard systems abroad and when buying foreign goods and services online. Contactless payment systems like Apple Pay also stopped working, while bank’s apps on App Store and Google Play were removed.