Putin approves paying foreign creditor in rubles
Russian companies can now pay foreign creditors in rubles to avoid defaults.
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The European Union had announced that it made the decision to disconnect a wide array of Russian banks from SWIFT (Reuters)
While capital control remains in place, Russia and Russian enterprises are now permitted to pay international creditors in rubles as a measure to avert defaults.
Russian President Vladimir Putin signed the decree on Saturday that establishes provisional rules for sovereign and corporate debtors to follow in order to pay creditors from "countries that engage in hostile activities" against Russia, its firms, and residents. The Russian government will publish a list of said countries within days.
After the West did not respond to Russia's demands, and amid Ukrainian shelling on the Donetsk and Lugansk People's Republics, Putin initiated a special military operation in Donbass.
The new regulation, which comes three weeks after Washington and Brussels adopted broad sanctions aimed at Moscow's banking industry, applies to monthly payments in excess of 10 million rubles ($81,900). Payments will be considered done if they are made in rubles at the official rate of the Central Bank of Russia.
The regulation states that debtors can ask a Russian lender to form a special "C" ruble-denominated account in the name of international creditors for settlement with local creditors to be paid through Russian depositories.
Russian business bonds denominated in foreign currencies plummeted as a result of the financial sanctions imposed on Russia for its military operation in Ukraine. Moscow replied by severely restricting access to foreign currency, limiting bondholders' ability to receive interest and principal payments.
Euroclear and Clearstream, two International Central Securities Depositories (ICSD), ceased clearing rouble-denominated transactions earlier this week. All securities issued by Russian businesses were barred from all Triparty transactions, limiting access to the mechanism normally used to make bondholder payments.
Creditors from Russia and other countries that have not joined the sanctions will be able to receive debt payments in rubles or foreign currency after obtaining a special license from the Central Bank, according to a statement from the regulator.
Russia has alternatives to SWIFT: Central Bank
Russian banks can use the financial messaging system of the Bank of Russia (FMS) to transfer information within the federation, and they are able to use other channels for international transferring in isolation from the SWIFT system, the Bank of Russia said Wednesday as sanctions mount against Moscow.
The European Union had announced that it made the decision to disconnect a wide array of Russian banks from SWIFT, seven, to be exact.
The banks, VTB BANK, Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank, and Vnesheconomban, would not be able to transmit financial information to counterparties on domestic transactions and international transactions.
The West disconnecting the Russian banks from the SWIFT system is part of its pressure on Moscow in light of the Russian special operation in Ukraine over NATO's eastward expansion.
