Italy’s largest bank Intesa Sanpaolo to stop accepting euro payments from Russia – Vedomosti

Intesa representatives in Milan confirmed the information about the restrictions on the O2 Consulting law firm, as Olga Sorokina, managing partner of this company, informed the newspaper. The managing partner of the Nordic Star law firm, Andrey Gusev, is also aware of the termination of payments in euros.

Starting January 15, Intesa Sanpaolo will change the terms of service for the correspondent account of its Russian subsidiary bank, according to a message from Intesa reviewed by Vedomosti. It says that transactions in euros will be limited to commercial payments to accounts at Intesa Sanpaolo itself, its subsidiaries and banks located in Italy.

At Intes, the newspaper’s request was transmitted to the parent structure. Intesa Sanpaolo did not respond to Vedomosti.

Sorokina believes that the Italian bank’s decision is related to pressure from the European Central Bank (ECB), sanctions restrictions and reputational risks. This information was confirmed by Gusev: according to him, the ECB requires eurozone financial institutions to comply with sanctions and monitors transactions related to sanctioned jurisdictions.

The restrictions on payments in euros will mainly affect Russian corporate clients who used Intesa for settlements in euros with counterparties outside Italy, Sorokina noted. First of all, we are talking about exporters and importers, as well as companies in the industrial and service sectors, added the expert.

At the same time, Sorokina indicated that in recent years Intesa has reduced the volume of transactions in its correspondent accounts tenfold and has focused mainly on working with companies operating in Italy or with Italian partners. Therefore, in part, Intesa Sanpaolo’s decision “did nothing more than formalize the current situation,” the expert explained.

Gusev estimates that about 15 Russian banks have correspondent accounts at Intes. His clients, who rely on long-term contracts settled in euros, could now be in trouble, he fears. This applies especially to small and medium-sized companies working with Italy, Gusev stressed.