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How does the war affect business?
The war in Ukraine affects business across Europe, either directly or indirectly, and language service companies are no exception.
The lives and businesses of Ukrainian language service companies, technology companies, and professional linguists are disrupted.
Many Russian and Belarussian banks have been excluded from the international payment system SWIFT, which severely disrupts payments to and from Russia and Belarus.
Contact your clients, service providers and suppliers to understand their situation and what implications the conflict will have on your collaboration in the short and medium term.
What do the SWIFT sanctions mean in practice?
Certain Russian and Belarussian banks have been excluded from the international payment system SWIFT, which means that funds and payments cannot be sent or received through these banks.
If your client or supplier banks with one of the Russian banks excluded from SWIFT:
- You cannot pay an invoice through that bank, for example, to a Russian linguist.
- You cannot receive a payment through that bank, for example, from a Russian client.
The banks excluded from SWIFT are currently:
- Bank Otkritie
- Novikombank
- Promsvyazbank
- Bank Rossiya
- Sovcombank
- VNESHECONOMBANK (VEB)
- VTB BANK
- Belagroprombank (Belarus)
- Bank Dabrabyt (Belarus)
- Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus
Russia’s largest bank Sperbank and third largest Gazprombank, so technically you may still be able to send and receive funds via these banks, although payment traffic may be much slower than usual.
There is no immediate effect on payments internally in Russia which has its own payment system.
Where to find out more
Up-to-date information on the UK’s and the EU’s sanctions against Russia and Belarus can be found at:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/russia-sanctions-guidance/russia-sanctions-guidance
We’ll keep you posted if anything else comes to our attention which may directly affect your business.
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