Russian brokerage Finam plans to buy bank in Kyrgyzstan

MOSCOW, July 13 (Reuters) – Russian retail brokerage Finam is contemplating shopping for a small financial institution in Kyrgyzstan, its president Vladislav Kochetkov stated on Wednesday, as Russian companies search for methods to simplify cross-border transactions amid western sanctions.

Russia’s demand for banking providers in former Soviet republics inside the CIS has elevated after western sanctions severed ties between the Russian banking sector and the worldwide monetary market.

“We’re contemplating completely different alternatives to work with counterparty banks: from opening correspondent relationships to purchasing a share or the entire enterprise,” Kochetkov advised Reuters with out revealing any names.

“No binding agreements have been signed with anybody but.”

Western sanctions for what Russia calls a “particular navy operation” in Ukraine that began on Feb. 24 have reduce main Russian banks off from the worldwide interbank fee system SWIFT and restricted inflows of money {dollars} and euros into the nation, whereas Visa and MasterCard have suspended operations in Russia.

Western sanctions on Russia have compelled lots of of hundreds of personal traders to vary brokerages to keep away from their investments being frozen, the pinnacle of a inventory market affiliation advised Reuters final month.

Finam, which provides brokerage providers to almost 0.4 million purchasers, intends to maximise the variety of companions to hedge in opposition to the state of affairs when one among its associate banks immediately shuts down international alternate transfers, Kochetkov stated.

The central financial institution stated earlier this week that Russian market gamers ought to proceed to lower the share of international foreign money on their steadiness sheets as a result of dangers of sanctions.

Reporting by Reuters
Modifying by Alexandra Hudson

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