Banks put fresh transactions on hold with Russian peers

Worried banks on Monday decided to put fresh transactions with Russian lenders on hold temporarily, as they met to deliberate on the potential impact of western sanctions and the move to block certain Russian lenders from the Swift global payments system in India. However, transactions that were committed before the sanctions would be processed, banking sources said. The meeting was convened by the Indian Banks’ Association (IBA) in Mumbai, one of the sources said.

Separately, senior Finance Ministry officials and bankers will meet on March 5 in New Delhi to firm up a strategy to respond to the crisis, the source said. The new financial services secretary, Sanjay Malhotra, will attend the March 5 meeting, he added.