Boris Johnson, US Discuss Banning Russia from SWIFT

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is considering banning Russia from the SWIFT global payments system, and is in discussions with the U.S. about the matter, Reuters reported Tuesday (Jan. 25).

“There is no doubt that that would be a very potent weapon,” Johnson said, after being asked about the idea. “I’m afraid it can only really be deployed with the assistance of the United States though. We are in discussions about that.”

In December, PYMNTS wrote that Russia had said it would survive even if it was disconnected from the SWIFT system, according to statements from Andrey Kostin, head of the country’s VTB Bank. Kostin said he thinks it’s unlikely to happen, though.

“It would be a very serious measure, ‘unfriendly’ doesn’t do it justice,” Kostin said, per Reuters as of late December.

Another voice chiming in was Herman Gref, the chief executive of Russian lender SherBank, which has said it’s “nonsense” that the U.S. could sanction Moscow’s ability to convert payments into other types of currencies.

The threats about withdrawing access have been spurred by the threat of Russia invading Ukraine in recent weeks; however, Russia has said it has no such plans. As of December, the Biden administration had been involved in talks with European partners about such actions.

Related: Bank Chief Says Russia Anticipates Staying Connected to SWIFT

A senior Biden official said at the time that if Russia does go ahead with military force, the U.S. would be prepared to take actions against the Russian economy.

There weren’t any specific sanctions considered at the time. However, there were “intensive” talks about what could be done, with options floated including going after energy producers, financial institutions, the country’s debt or making sure its oligarchs could not travel.

SWIFT is an important tool for worldwide money flows.

Russia does have its own banking messaging system called SPFS, an alternative to SWIFT. If other countries decide to cut Russia off from SWIFT, it would feasibly have the SPFS to fall back on.