By Andrey Ostroukh
MOSCOW--Russia will be able to launch an alternative nationwide
payments system "in a couple of months" once parliament passes a
relevant law, after the withdrawal of services from some Russian
banks by Visa Inc. and MasterCard Inc. as a result of U.S.
sanctions, said the chairman of the country's biggest lender OAO
Sberbank.
Speaking to reporters Monday, German Gref said the crisis in
Ukraine and the standoff between Moscow and the West posed serious
risks to the Russian economy and were likely to push capital
outflows this year above current expectations of $55 billion. He
said the capital flight would weigh on Russia's economic growth,
bringing it to zero if net capital outflows reached $100 billion
this year.
"Risk of economic recession is in place," the chairman of
Sberbank, which has the world's largest chain of ATMs, said.
A second wave of U.S. sanctions late last week targeted
President Vladimir Putin's inner circle and Bank Rossiya, which the
U.S. Treasury Department said is a personal lender for senior
Russian officials. As a result, Visa and MasterCard have stopped
servicing the bank, which in turn has revived talks in Russia about
a long-planned national banking payments system.
Sberbank's alternative to Visa and MasterCard is a system Pro
100, which reads like 'prosto' in Russia meaning "simple." Sberbank
itself isn't targeted by U.S. or European Union sanctions.
Mr. Gref, who is also Sberbank's chief executive, said Russia's
financial markets and currency were substantially oversold, and
that the ruble would be trading at 33 rubles to the dollar had the
crisis not erupted. Around 1045 ET Monday, the ruble was trading
around 36.31 to the dollar.
Earlier this month, the ruble plummeted to its weakest ever
level of 37 against the dollar, battered by threats from Washington
and Brussels to impose sanctions against Moscow after Russia's
incursion into Ukraine's region of Crimea.
A broader set of sanctions, possibly including penalties against
Sberbank, would be a "serious hit for the country," Mr. Gref said,
adding that he hopes it won't happen.
He blamed the media for the escalation of Ukraine-related
conflict and declined to comment on developments in the breakaway
region of Crimea, which officially became a part of Russia late
last week.
"Nothing drastic has happened yet. Let's not read coffee
grindings to foretell when the end of the world will happen," Mr.
Gref said.
He said that Sberbank isn't planning to close its business in
Ukraine, stressing that the bank's offices were periodically shut
down in Kiev earlier this year only during the most violent clashes
between antigovernment protesters and the police.
Write to Andrey Ostroukh at andrey.ostroukh@wsj.com