Singapore's second-largest bank imposes restrictions on Russia
Illustrative photo: OCBC will cease all financial operations related to Russia (Getty Images)
Singapore's financial corporation OCBC will cease all financial operations related to Russia, with the restrictions set to take effect on November 1, Bloomberg informs.
According to a statement addressed to corporate and private clients, OCBC's decision to halt transactions is linked to operational challenges arising from the sanctions imposed against Russia.
From now on, OCBC and its wealth management subsidiary, Bank of Singapore, will cease processing transactions involving personal transfers with counterparties in Russia. This will also impact the transportation of goods and the supply or sale of products and services involving Russia.
As Bloomberg reports, the impact of these restrictions is expected to be minimal for OCBC, as the bank has not opened new accounts for clients linked to Russia for the past two years.
In March 2022, the Singaporean government imposed unilateral targeted sanctions against Russia, focusing on certain Russian banks. However, other banking operations, such as cryptocurrency trading and the export of some goods, remained active for parties not subject to these sanctions.
New sanctions against Russia
Recently, journalist Rikard Jozwiak reported that the European Union has approved new sanctions against Russia aimed at countering hybrid threats from Moscow.
At the beginning of October, EU ambassadors approved a mechanism to combat hybrid attacks from Russia, which came into effect on October 8.
