19 september 2024 — 15:04
It has again become difficult for Russian businesses to make payments through Turkey to other countries, including Europe, Frank Media writes, citing various information sources.
Problems with transit payments through Turkey resumed in the summer. At first, European banks sometimes began to reject transactions from Turkish credit institutions for supplies to Russia, the importer said. However, in recent weeks, Turkish banks themselves have refused to make transit payments, even if the company provides additional documents on the transaction upon request, one of the interlocutors said.
Although the state bank Emlak Katilim continues to work with Russian enterprises, it recently began to charge them an additional commission for transit payments, which it does not formally carry out, two intermediaries told Vedomosti. As a result, now only large importers can use its services, since not every business can afford to pay this unregulated fee. Emlak introduced the commission due to the growth of turnover on accounts linked to Russia, one of the interlocutors said. According to him, the state bank accounts for 80% of such payments.
"Problems in mutual settlements between the two countries remain. Cases of squeezing out companies involved in the transit of goods to Russia have become more frequent in Turkish banks. Such clients are actively identified, and transfers are blocked or accounts are closed altogether," Alexey Yerkhov, the Russian ambassador to Turkey, admitted in early September (quoted by TASS). The information was also confirmed by Alexey Poroshin, CEO of the First Group company, Igor Kuznets, partner of FTL Advisors law firm, and Andrey Gusev, managing partner of the Nordic Star Law Firm.
One of the intermediaries linked the complication of transit through Turkish banks with the tightening of compliance in Turkey and in Europe. According to the source, this winter, after the first problems with settlements through Turkish banks, Russian business began to use companies registered in Hong Kong and Dubai for transit payments. Then credit institutions began to reject such payments en masse and Russians began to register companies in Turkey itself for its citizens. Now Turkish banks have tightened checks on these companies as well. In particular, credit institutions ask what the owner did before, why he founded a new company right now, and what volume of trade flows he expects. If the bank manages to find out that the company is making payments for Russian business, the payment is rejected, the interlocutor summed up.
At the beginning of the year, Russian importers faced problems with payments through Turkey, and some companies closed accounts with local banks. Credit institutions were afraid to fall under secondary sanctions after US President Joe Biden allowed the US Treasury Department to impose restrictions against banks in third countries. However, after some time, settlements through Turkey gradually began to take place again, the newspaper writes.