"Reliable and guaranteeing complete independence": Lavrov announced that Russia has a base for creating an analogue of SWIFT

In Russia, there is a basis for creating an analogue of the SWIFT payment system.

This was announced on Wednesday, April 28, by the country's foreign minister Sergei Lavrov.

“The base exists.

And I am convinced that both the government and the Central Bank should do everything to ensure that this base is reliable and guarantees us complete independence and a guarantee against damage that someone may try to additionally inflict on us, ”RIA Novosti quoted Lavrov as saying.

As the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry said earlier, Moscow needs to move away from the use of Western-controlled international payment systems in order to reduce sanctions risks.

The active introduction of its own analogues should insure the country's financial and banking markets in the event of the introduction of new anti-Russian restrictions.

This was told to RT by the chairman of the State Duma Committee on the Financial Market Anatoly Aksakov.

“At one time Russia did not have its own payment card.

Citizens actively used the services of Visa and MasterCard, but then the US State Department decided that in a number of banks the service of these cards should be blocked.

This example clearly shows why Russia needs its own analogue of SWIFT.

That is, this is a compulsory measure aimed at protecting against unfair actions by Washington, ”explained Aksakov.

In August 2020, Deputy Chairman of the Security Council Dmitry Medvedev said that several years ago the US had already discussed the idea of ​​“cutting off Russia” from SWIFT.

Meanwhile, the British authorities first proposed to disconnect Moscow from the international financial system back in 2014.

Note that such proposals continue to sound today.

In these conditions, Russia is preparing for any development of events around SWIFT.

This was announced at the end of March by the presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov.

“We cannot rule out any of the potential threats, you see that the sanctions aspirations of our opponents, especially the United States, continue, continue on an increase.

These actions are unreasonable and unpredictable, therefore, of course, such a situation obliges us to be on the alert, ”said Peskov.

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The international interbank system SWIFT was created back in 1973.

The platform has formed unified standards for conducting monetary transactions, and currently it is used by over 11 thousand credit and financial institutions in 215 countries of the world.

Payment orders amounting to about $ 6 trillion pass through the system every day.

In 2014, Russia developed its own financial messaging system (SPFS).

As noted in the Central Bank, the platform guarantees the uninterrupted transmission of payment orders within the country and abroad.

Today SPFS has about 400 Russian and foreign users.

“13 foreign organizations have already become SPFS participants.

This is still not very much, but if we are still disconnected from SWIFT, the number of participants on the Russian platform will increase dramatically.

So, our partners from Europe, China, India, Turkey can quickly enter the system.

As a result, all trade relations and agreements will remain in effect, and payments will also be processed, but using a different system, which will be independent of SWIFT, ”Anatoly Aksakov emphasized.

Risky step

At the same time, experts interviewed by RT do not yet expect Russia to be disconnected from SWIFT.

Thus, according to Sergei Suverov, investment strategist at Arikapital, the United States may face a number of legal difficulties if it lobbies for such a step.

“For example, even the headquarters of the organization is located in Belgium.

That is, the Americans can lobby for such measures, but it is not a fact that the SWIFT leadership will agree to them, since they also have the right to vote, "Suverov said in an interview with RT.

Moreover, the decision to disconnect Russia from the international payment system may negatively affect the operation of the platform itself, Anatoly Aksakov believes.

In his opinion, as a result, the entire world financial market is at risk of being hit.

“Russia ranks fourth in terms of the volume of transactions in SWIFT, and disconnecting such a large participant from this financial transaction chain risks turning into disruptions in the entire system.

For the United States, this is a difficult step, since in this scenario they will incur reputational and financial costs, ”Aksakov stressed.

It is noteworthy that, in addition to Russia, other countries are developing their own SWIFT counterparts.

For example, in 2015, China launched its CIPS (China (Cross-border) International Payments System) platform.

It is assumed that in the future, CIPS will be able to allow foreign market participants to conduct settlements in yuan directly with Chinese partners.

At the same time, in the future, the Chinese CIPS can connect to the Russian SPFS to simplify payments.

Pavel Sigal, the first vice-president of the all-Russian public organization of small and medium-sized businesses "Support of Russia", shared this opinion in an interview with RT.

“Moreover, India, the largest market in the Asia-Pacific region after China, is also considering the option of connecting to the SPFS. Therefore, such a tool that will minimize the consequences of disconnecting from SWIFT is necessary not only for Russia, but also for other countries with which the United States is entering into confrontation, ”the expert concluded.