Banks in Turkey have begun closing accounts of Russian companies

Before Biden's order expanding sanctions, Turkey had "two omnivorous and two semi-omnivorous banks" in terms of working with Russia, but in January they began tightening restrictions on clients

Some banks in Turkey have begun closing accounts of Russian companies and have tightened requirements for individuals from Russia who want to open a card, Vedomosti reports, citing business owners who trade with this country, financial consultants and representatives of business associations.

Turkish financial institutions began abruptly stopping processing payments from Russia at the beginning of the year. According to the publication's sources, payments are still frozen now. One of the sources, the owner of a trading broker, said that accounts of Russian companies were closed back in 2022, but now the trend has intensified: previously, it was primarily about companies that fell under sanctions , but now relations are being terminated with other organizations as well.

The restrictions were tightened after the decree of US President Joe Biden on December 22, 2023, the sources of the publication note. It allows the US Treasury Department to introduce measures against foreign banks that help conduct transactions with sanctioned persons from Russia or facilitate the supply of certain materials and equipment to the Russian military-industrial complex. As Bloomberg wrote, state-owned banks of China have also begun to impose restrictions on the provision of financing to Russian clients .

According to a source doing business in Turkey, before December there were “two omnivorous and two semi-omnivorous banks” in that country in terms of working with Russia. The first category was threatened with inclusion in the US SDN list (Specially Designated Nationals List - a list of sanctioned persons; being included in it entails blocking all assets owned by the person located in the US and a ban on American persons from any interaction with sanctioned persons). After that, they began closing the correspondent accounts of a significant number of companies and Russian banks.

“Semi-omnivorous” banks, according to the source, have also begun to sever ties, but mainly with those who became clients after the start of full-scale military action in Ukraine .

On January 23, the Economim newspaper reported that after Turkish banks stopped making payments for exports to Russia, the Turkish authorities intervened in the situation . The newspaper reported that Emlak Katılım Bank began making money transfers from Russia for exports of goods from four sectors: food , textiles, clothing and footwear; with other sectors - automobiles and mechanical engineering - the problems are still being resolved.

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Russian diplomats are in contact with Turkish authorities on the issue of payments, Ambassador Alexei Erkhov said. On January 18, a RIA Novosti source reported that the country's state banks had partially resumed transactions from Russia.