UPDATE 2: Cbank sees no risks of switching off from SWIFT for Russia yet

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MOSCOW, Jun 8 (PRIME) -- The central bank does not see risks of switching Russia off from the international interbank settlement system SWIFT yet, First Deputy Chairwoman Olga Skorobogatova said on Tuesday.

“We see no such risks yet but from the security point of view, we have created the system of financial messages transmission that works for internal operations within Russia,” she said.

Skorobogatova added that 31 foreign banks from seven states, including 22 banks from Belarus, have connected to the system and the system’s share amounted to 24.5% of all internal messages.

The central bank can consider selling part of its shares of the National Payment Card System (NPCS) at one of the stages of the system’s development, Skorobogatova said.

She also said that the regulator has appraised compensation to small and medium businesses for commissions in the Instant payment system, proposed by President Vladimir Putin at the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum, at 300 million rubles until the end of 2021.

CEO of Russian National SWIFT Association Roman Chernov said that SWIFT does not plan to switch Russia off.

“Nobody intends to switch us off. It is very simple, it is not profitable for anybody,” he said.

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