The Russian Agricultural Bank (Rosselkhozbank), against which the European Union and the United States imposed sectoral sanctions, will become a shareholder of the SWIFT network, according to an Interfax source close to the supervisory board of the credit institution.
The source clarified that the SWIFT found the Russian bank subject to the eligibility requirements for a stakeholder. In March, Rosselkhozbank was notified that it needed to acquire 246 stocks (0.2% of the total amount) for 844,000 euro.
The bank management and the strategy department approved the purchase, the source added. It was also taken into account that in 2012-2014 the SWIFT system returned 500,000 euro (out of the total amount of payments to the network) to the Russian Agricultural Bank for massive traffic flows with other country’s credit organizations.
In summer 2014, the European Parliament called for the EU to consider excluding Russia from the SWIFT system. This measure was supposed to intensify the international sanctions imposed against Russia following the crisis in Ukraine. In response, the SWIFT claimed a violation of its rights by the EU Parliament.