The Western camp is sharpening its sanctions against Russia by the hour following its invasion of Ukraine. The idea is to cut off Russia from the international financial and banking system, which has largely been the case since 2014. Russia has become very autonomous in capital markets thanks to its gas wealth. Meanwhile, the markets remain relatively calm in the face of this unprecedented crisis in Europe.
“We can question the real usefulness of excluding Russian banks from the Swift protocol, which is only a secure messaging protocol and not a payment system,” says Julien Martinet.
“On a legal level,” continues the lawyer, “there are measures that would be much more effective in apprehending assets or blocking flows, such as embargo laws, laws prohibiting transactions with certain entities, or asset freezes, especially bank accounts held abroad by Russian citizens or real estate, provided that we are able to properly identify the true owners, who are often concealed in trusts domiciled in tax havens. Prohibiting access to the secure messaging system Swift would undoubtedly hinder operations, with longer delays, higher costs, and greater risks of fraud, but it will not prevent fund transfers, which will quickly find other channels.”
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