EU says no Swift exclusion for Gazprombank, Sberbank

The EU will not exclude Russia's Gazprombank or Sberbank from the global financial messaging system Swift, in order to facilitate continued purchases of energy and other commodities.

Late yesterday France, which chairs meetings of EU member state ministers, indicated sanctions to exclude "certain" Russian banks from Swift had been approved by senior diplomats. The EU will later today publish the regulation effectively allowing for a 10-day period to exclude VTB, Promsvyazbank, Rossiya Bank, VEB, Bank Otkritie, Novikombank and Sovcombank.

A senior EU official said today it was not possible to exclude specific transactions, such as those to purchase energy or other commodities, from Swift.

"You can still make payments. You can use email, fax. In the financial system, they still know what faxes look like," said the official. "Does this mean [Gazprombank or Sberbank] will never show up on the list? I cannot say that.

Sberbank has said all its European businesses have closed, with the exception of its operation in Switzerland.

The exclusion from Swift of the other seven Russian banks will hit as much as 70pc of internal Russian transactions, the offical said.

Swift has noted the joint statement by the EU, France, Germany, Italy, UK, Canada, and the US on restricting "select" Russian banks and will "always comply with applicable sanctions laws".

By Dafydd ab Iago