Europe Includes Top Russian Banks in Sanction List

Europe has cranked up the pressure on Russia by including the country’s top two banks on a list of sanctions.

Publishing details of new measures aimed at disrupting activity in Russia’s banking, oil and arms industries, the EU said late Thursday that Sberbank (SBRCY)and VTB Bank were now banned from raising medium and long-term finance in Europe.

Also on the list: Gazprombank, VEB and Russian Agricultural Bank — state-controlled banks that can no longer tap European financial markets.

Shares fell sharply Friday — Sberbank was down 2.5% and VTB plunged 4%. Both banks slammed the sanctions while seeking to reassure investors and customers that it was business as usual.
Sberbank said Europe’s move “undermines the foundations of the global financial system” and would not help solve the Ukraine crisis.

Four of the banks were already subject to similar U.S. sanctions. But Sberbank had managed to escape punishment until now.

via CNN

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Alfonso Esparza

Alfonso Esparza

Senior Currency Analyst at Market Pulse
Alfonso Esparza specializes in macro forex strategies for North American and major currency pairs. Upon joining OANDA in 2007, Alfonso Esparza established the MarketPulseFX blog and he has since written extensively about central banks and global economic and political trends. Alfonso has also worked as a professional currency
trader focused on North America and emerging markets. He has been published by The MarketWatch, Reuters, the Wall Street Journal and The Globe and Mail, and he also appears regularly as a guest commentator on networks including Bloomberg and BNN. He holds a finance degree from the Monterrey Institute of Technology and Higher Education (ITESM) and an MBA with a specialization on financial engineering and marketing from the University of Toronto.
Alfonso Esparza