MOSCOW--Bank Rossiya, the only financial institution included on
the U.S. sanctions list following the crisis over the Crimea
region, asked its clients Monday to stay away from transactions in
foreign currencies.
Last week international payment systems companies Visa Inc. (V)
and MasterCard Inc. (MA) stopped servicing Bank Rossiya, which the
U.S. Treasury Department said was owned by a member of President
Vladimir Putin's inner circle and serves as a personal bank for
senior Russia officials.
"The bank asks clients to refrain from carrying out payments in
foreign currencies to Bank Rossiya accounts until further notice,"
the lender said in a statement on its website. Transactions in
rubles were not affected, the bank said.
Following the second round of penalties from the U.S. late last
week, Mr. Putin ordered Russia's central bank to lend support to
Bank Rossiya--the country's 17th largest financial institution--and
said he planned to open an account and have his official salary
deposited there.
Yuri Kovalchuk, the main owner of Bank Rossiya who was included
in the U.S. sanctions list, said Russians rushed to open accounts
at the lender on Friday instead of withdrawing cash due to the
"Putin factor". A Wall Street Journal reporter who was in Bank
Rossiya's main Moscow office on Friday morning said people were
queuing to withdraw their money from Bank Rossiya ATMs.
In an interview with Dmitry Kiselyov, the Russian state news
anchor who was included in the European Union's sanction list, Mr.
Kovalchuk said the sanctions from the West raise the question of
whether Russia should adopt another system of values. Speaking on
state television late on Sunday, Mr. Kovalchuk said the current
stand-off with the West gives reasons for the business and the
state to focus on internal developments.
Russia has long been considering the creation of a national
banking payments system, but hasn't developed it yet. Following the
sanctions-related issue with Visa and MasterCard, Russia's lower
house of parliament is now considering prohibiting payment systems
from outside the Russia Federation.
Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com