Maxim Oreshkin, Deputy Head of Economic Affairs of the Russian Federation, said that he will try to make sure that Russia does not need to use the SWIFT system in the future.
“With SWIFT, everything is very simple: we will make sure that this will not be necessary. I’ve already said that, and this is actually the main task for now. <…> We are now focusing on making foreign economic activity as comfortable as possible,” he said.
According to Oreshkin, previously the whole world, including Russia and China, were “hostages of the Western financial system” and used dollars and euros, because “everyone was used to it, everyone was comfortable.” “Now this is exactly the case, we see that the yuan, on the contrary, is growing a lot, the turnover of the ruble is increasing a lot. <…>. “We will produce such mechanisms that will further simplify the process,” said Vladimir Putin’s assistant.
Oreshkin stated that a meeting will be held with Turkish partners next week, during which they will discuss how to arrange payments. In addition, negotiations are underway with Chinese partners, where “other innovative ideas that can radically change the situation” are discussed.
Russian analogues
The Russian financial messaging system was launched in test mode in 2014, right after the first anti-Russian sanctions were imposed. It can transmit data in SWIFT format, but is not dependent on its channels.
Since 2017, the national SPFS has been fully operational. In 2020, the share of the system in Russia’s internal financial data exchange reached 20.6%, surpassing SWIFT. Now about 180 thousand transactions are processed per day.
By then, 70 foreign institutions from 12 countries were using it, as Central Bank governor Elvira Nabiullina reported in June. He emphasized that the efforts for the participation of new partners in the system continue actively. “We are ready to join anyone, we have all the technical solutions and we can join fast enough. But of course, this is two-way traffic,” said the head of the Central Bank.
In addition, the NTI Platform is working on the creation of a Russian SWIFT analogue on the blockchain. Press service of the organization on July 11 reportedthat the pilot version is already ready for testing and use in banks. “The results of the load test show that the system performs very well. st. Petersburg State University NTI Competence Center technical director Alexander Kireev told RIA Novosti, while the design speed reaches the transmission of more than 25 thousand messages per second in one node, there is the possibility of further scaling.
The developers of the system also stated that it does not use a classic blockchain, but uses a three-tier architecture, as it can expand and connect a large number of new users. All participants have the same rights and opportunities, so it is not possible to disable a particular country or bank.
About SWIFT
For example, a number of Russian banks, including VTB, Otkritie and Sovcombank, were disconnected from SWIFT after the start of the Russian special operation in Ukraine. Ursula von der Leyen, head of the European Commission, said disconnecting from the system would “impair Russian exports and imports”.
SWIFT is a cooperative that includes more than 11 thousand financial institutions. It was established in 1973. Its headquarters is in Belgium.
Previously, owners of SWIFT already “banned” all countries. Thus, in 2017, the DPRK left the system, and in 2018, the United States is under pressure from Iranian banks.