The EU leaves seven Russian banks out of the Swift system

The European Union today formally agreed to expel seven Russian banks from Swift, the most important communication system through which 11,000 entities around the world share real-time information on transactions and operations.

From now on, after being published in the EU Journal, Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank, Vnesheconombank (VEB) and VTB Bank will not be able to use Swift for their daily operations.

Sberbank and Gazprombank, two of the three largest entities in the country, have been left out of the sanctions, since the bulk of payments for oil, gas or coal purchased from Russia are channeled through them.

And Europe's energy dependence is too great.

The system does not allow blocking specific elements, or proscribing certain actions.

It is all or nothing.

The measures will actually be

, because, according to community sources, a transition period was essential in which to give European banks room to make the impact as small as possible and make their adjustments.

But also so that the transmissions that were underway can be concluded, without leaving European buyers or sellers hanging.

"At the speed of light, the European Union has adopted three rounds of strong sanctions against Russia's financial system, its high-tech industries and its corrupt elite.

. Today's decision to disconnect major Russian banks from the SWIFT network will send another very clear signal to Putin and the Kremlin," said European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen.

According to community sources, 80% of the members of the Russian financial system are already under the umbrella of sanctions in one way or another.

With Swift, freezing of assets or specific prohibitions related to the financing of the war in Donbas.

The entities punished today were already on previous lists, and for this reason they are the first to be excluded from the Swift system, which is a private entity based in Belgium, and therefore subject to community legislation, and sensitive to political decisions such as the one now adopted by the 27.

Community sources consider that Russia has other alternatives from now on, but they are slower and ineffective.

, but Brussels believes that it is not a real alternative right now.

Perhaps in the medium or long term, but not a substitute for Swift, which has a market share of more than 50%.

More than 40 million messages are exchanged every day, something impossible to match from outside.

"They will be able to send emails or faxes, I suppose, but it is not the same," explains a European official in charge of these matters.

The initial goal is for the list to be ready yesterday, but there were intense discussions between the ambassadors.

, but the rest of the partners had doubts.

It is true that they are neither the first nor the third largest bank, but the need to maintain energy flows has prevailed.

In any case, the sanctions and divestments are also being felt in them.

Sberbank, the first Russian entity, was listed two weeks ago at 15 euros per share.

Today he opened below three and during the day his titles were in cents.

Its subsidiaries in Austria, Croatia or Slovenia opened on Monday under the umbrella of the Single Resolution Mechanism, which has forced its sale after deposit leaks.

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