Sanctions Russia, Japan's three largest banks to stop US dollar transactions with Russia's largest bank

Russia's largest bank "Sberbank". (Schematic, Bloomberg)

 [Comprehensive Report] Japanese media reported that in response to the U.S. financial sanctions against Russia, Japan's Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, and Mizuho will stop U.S. dollar transactions with Russia's largest bank "Sberbank" .

Kyodo News reported that the United States added Sberbank to its list of prohibited financial transactions on the 26th of this month for security reasons. In the past, when Japanese banks sent US dollar remittances to Sberbank, they had to go through U.S. banks. Therefore, Japanese banks will not be able to continue transactions on the same day (26th).

The report also pointed out that in addition to stopping US dollar transactions with Sberbank, Mitsubishi UFJ plans to reduce remittances in foreign currencies other than US dollars such as euros.

For Japanese companies that have local subsidiaries in Russia and use Sberbank for transactions, after the three major banks of Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui, Mizuho and other Japanese banks stopped trading with Sberbank, they may explore the use of overseas banks such as Europe as an alternative in the future. .