Credit Suisse Freezes $5 Billion Of Russia-linked Money Due To U.S Sanctions

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REUTERS / Arnd Wiegmann

Swiss Bank Credit Suisse has frozen $5 billion of funds in Russia-linked accounts, to avoid crossing US sanctions.

Reuters reported on August 22^nd that one of Switzerland’s biggest banks, Credit Suisse’s actions show the widespread fear among banks of reprisals from Washington for working with targeted Russian individuals or entities. The bank owned aircraft surrendered by Russian tycoon Oleg Deripaska and had lent money to Russian oligarch Viktor Vekselberg before the sanctions.

“Credit Suisse works with international regulators wherever it does business to ensure compliance with sanctions, including compliance with sanctions involving Russia,” said a spokeswoman for the bank, the owners of the funds were not identified. For the Russian elite, this could close off an important avenue for finance as well as a safe haven for billions of rubles, as reported by Reuters.

Roughly $6.2 billion, or 14 percent of total Russian cross-border outflows, went to Switzerland in 2017 — almost three times as much as went to the United States, according to Russian central bank data.

ZeroHedge reported that the abovementioned money could now be blocked after earlier this month, members of Congress called for more action, including introducing new sanctions legislation “from hell”, to punish the Russian “menace.”

The US sanctions do not apply to neutral Switzerland. However, its banks are forced to comply because they depend on access to the US dollar and could be blackballed by the US. ZeroHedge further claimed that this was a demonstration of the implied US veto power on global financial transactions that use “neutral” Swift as an intermediary and the reason behind yesterday’s call by Germany’s foreign minister Heiko Maas for the creation of a new payments system independent of the US.

Two of Credit Suisse’s rivals UBS and Julius Baer said that they also respected international sanctions, however they declined to admit whether they’ve taken similar steps. “UBS … implements worldwide at least the sanctions currently imposed by Switzerland, the U.N., the EU and the U.S.,” said a spokesman for UBS. A spokesman for Julius Baer told Reuters that it “cooperates with international regulators … in the field of sanction regulations”.

Credit Suisse took action most likely due to a $500 million settlement with US authorities over dealings with Iran, which at the time was also under sanctions.

As reported by ZeroHedge, other European banks have also been punished for ignoring US dominance in global fund flows: in 2014, France’s BNP Paribas agreed to pay a record $8.9 billion for violating U.S. sanctions against Sudan, Cuba and Iran.

Bloomberg reported that Credit Suisse and UBS earlier in 2018 halted trading in companies owned by Russian oligarch Victor Vekselberg. In April, Vekselberg and his investment company Renova Group appeared on a list of oligarchs, companies and senior government officials subject to sanctions.

In April the latest round of sanctions was announced by U.S. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin to penalize Russia for its annexation of Crimea, involvement in the war in Syria and “attempting to subvert Western democracies”.

FINMA, the Swiss banking regulator does not require banks to adhere to foreign sanctions, however they have said that banks have a responsibility to minimize legal and reputational risks.

The sanctions imposed by the US on Russia on August 8^th in relation to the alleged Russian poisoning of ex-spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter were supposed to come into effect around August 22^nd, as of August 23^rd they’ve not been enforced. However, they target exports to Russia of goods and technology considered to be sensitive on national security grounds.

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occupybacon
Fortunately for the Russian people, as new sanctions are coming, there is the Bitcoin.
- Tommy Jensen
  Bitcoin is also a Rothschild product. Dont be fooled again.
  Only physical material has value; land, cows, gold, steel, tender documents, comic books, furnitures, etc.
  Bitcoin is a Matrix fantasy.
  - FlorianGeyer
    Yes and a fantastical system that can be closed down with a flick of the ‘internet switch’.
    Bitcoin is as much a ponzi scheme as all the Fiat currencies are.
    People value material things according to their circumstances. Food and water are worth more than all else in extremis. Only those with a surfeit of food and water can enter the ‘comic book market ‘.
    ” A horse , a horse, my kingdom for a horse. “
    - LavXolm
      So, the sanctioned have only lost an illusion?
      - occupybacon
        Yes, they love sanctions that’s why they need more: ‘Slap me, uncle Sam, choke me harder!”
      - FlorianGeyer
        They have lost an illusion and the Fiat money they paid for the illusion :)
    - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
      Is that you on that horse in your avatar?
      - FlorianGeyer
        Yes.
      - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
        Splendid ! I was once an enthusiastic rider too.
      - FlorianGeyer
        If you look closely at the photo you will see a puff of smoke and a pistol in my hand. I have just shot a balloon on the wing of the jump with a blank cartridge.
      - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
        Impressive. Did you scare the horse or is/was he used to it?
      - FlorianGeyer
        He is used to it as all my horses have been.
        Its all down to acclimatisation and trust really. Even at a display where there have been large firework displays, I have never had a problem.
      - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
        In my next life I’ll come back as one of your horses ;-)
        Anyway, enjoy it, there is only 1 life, contrary to what some try to make us believe.
      - FlorianGeyer
        Thank you.
  - as
    Exactly. Hell even gold won’t prevail against food in the events of total shortages.
  - as
    they can use the block chain system of their own. They just have to back it with gold or the like. The issuers is the one tasked with the responsibility of them being of credible value.
Tommy Jensen
So much for “the land of the free markets”.
It also shows the importance of free competition, and how toxic and sick a society gets when someone gets monopoly on key sectors.
Our Creator made everything excessive for us, so we never would be in need of anything:
In most countries it rains between 500-700m3/year in every and each household of 1000m2. A little charcoal, sand and gravel and you have the finest water for everything.
Our Creator gives this water to us for free and our Creator lead the rest water we dont need, away for free too.
Only the bankers and financiers set limits and made “lack of water ressources” and “extamination of water” to a profit model.
Our Creator made apples, potatoes, chickens, fish so they multiply in reproduction, all for free to us. Our Creator also secure that the waste disappear naturally in the nature, for free.
Only the bankers and financiers made limits, lies and GMO to our food, for profit.
In 1996 Russian scientists found oil/gas to be abiotic and reproduced unlimited from the inner earth. All this our Creator made for free so noone should lack energy.
Only the bankers and financiers made limits, stupid lies campaigns about fossil combustives and clima change, for own profit.
- LavXolm
  Well, according to Rousseau you can go back even further to the man who first dug a ditch or planted a hedge to enclose an area and declared that “this is mine!” as the source of the world’s BS. Or, you could go back even further to the Garden of Eden when Eve ate the apple from the Tree of Knowledge of Good and Evil (i.e., Judgement) for our miseries and conflicts. The bankers are just today’s manifestation of our human weaknesses…
You can call me Al
A sad day when bullying can win a battle….. let’s see who wins the war hey ?.
You Swiss POS muppets.
- as
  Like the way Iranian lost it’s money. It’s just cheap ass move swiping Russian funds just because they have the excuse and the protection without real justification to do so.
Manuel Flores Escobar
The question is..Why Russia doesnt initiate a criminal proceedings vs Credit Swiss for stealing Russian funds without the mandate of UN or a legal court?….
- RichardD
  Probably because the depositors agreed to legal terminology allowing it when they opened the accounts.
  - Garga
    Always read the fine print!
    Unfortunately, almost everything we sign to accept a document, one way or another is designed to screw us over. We all accept to be spied upon, our belongings confiscated and basically give away any and all kinds of rights which we may have.
    I heard in EU this kind of signing is not binding for customers. I’m not sure it applies to everything or just software EULAs though.
    These “fine prints” is specialty of a very small “selected” group of people, like they’re “chosen” to do that. ;)
    - RichardD
      Most big companies, not just banks, have indemnification clauses in their documents that give them the upper hand. The only way around it is to have your own capabilities. If you can’t afford it or don’t want to bother with it, then you’re pretty much at a disadvantage.
  - Manuel Flores Escobar
    I dont think they agree to be confiscate without Un mandate or legal court …
    - RichardD
      Most big companies, not just banks, have indemnification clauses in their documents that give them the upper hand. The only way around it is to have your own capabilities. If you can’t afford it or don’t want to bother with it, then you’re pretty much at a disadvantage.
      –
    - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
      The US ignores the UN and legal courts.
- as
  They don’t see a complete breakdown in relationship and trust is what’s in their interest yet. Although i do agree that this is just an excuse to grab Russian money.
- #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
  The bigger question is: why does Russia keep trusting Western institutions to park its money? There has been plenty of proof that the US, which controls directly and indirectly much of the money flow and deposits, cannot be trusted.
Rob
Benjanyahu leads US in wrong direction.
- #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
  No kidding?
Hrky75
For people to do business in Russia, they by definition have to cooperate with it’s institutions, people link with the government and (unfortunately, but still a fact of life in Russia since forever) with Russian oligarchs. If that means that their property is unsafe in EU and US, they’ll just move it to a safer location – i.e. China, Russia etc. End result of sanctions – 45bns $ less outflow from Russia each year. Gee, Vlad, that must hurt lika a Mofo…
- FlorianGeyer
  I was thinking the same. Most of the Russian originated cash held outside Russia is money that was and still is plundered by Zionist oligarchs, to the detriment of the Russian people.
  We are now witnessing rival gangs of Zionist oligarchs from Israel and the US/UK/France etc plundering the ill gotten gains of the Russian Zio Criminals :)
  As the Zionist power in Russia declines the Russian State will be able to reclaim their stolen goods within Russia itself. :)
  Russia also holds the ‘keys’ to debunking the myth of a WW2 holocaust as twas Soviet Russia that overran the German Labour Camps and Russia will have the full documentary evidence of what was found there.
  The Western public have been cajoled and hectored by the proponents of this quasi religious Zio myth for too long and the time that they will be receptive to the factual Truth is fast approaching :)
  - Sinbad2
    Exactly, the Swiss have a long history of not returning Jewish deposits.
    Russia won’t care, because they would never get the money back from the toads who stole it.
    - FlorianGeyer
      And those Jews who are the front men for the Zionist merchant banks who ‘stole’ the assets for ‘pennies in the dollar’ in the 1990’s will have lost all their power inside Russia and beyond :)
RichardD
This type of sanctions nonsense is the only way that the Jews can retaliate. Because they can’t win on the battlefield.
Ross
I would have thought this was a pretty risky strategy on the part of the western banking system. If five or six oligarchs turned up simultaneously and asked for their $5b back they would crash the system. It seems to me there is a great opportunity for some resourceful entrepreneur in Hong Kong say, to set up a refuge bank where funds could be transferred where the Zio gangsters couldn’t steal it. The new bank’s marketing slogan could be “We Promise Not to Steal Your Money – Unlike Western Banks!”
- #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
  $5b would “crash the system”? That amount of money is no more than rounding error, so how would that “crash the system”?
  - Sinbad2
    Obviously you have never tried to get a large amount of money out of a bank.
    Transfer it to another bank, no worries, but try and get a bank cheque made out to you, and they try everything they can not to pay.
    - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
      But if you worry about $5b “crashing the system” then you are a bit at a loss as to proportions in the financial world.
  - Ross
    How much liquidity do banks actually hold? Probably a lot less then they would like us to believe. Most of their ‘assets’ are debts theoretically owed to them, sub-prime mortgages and all, but how much actual cash do they hold? I did say “five or six” so let’s say $25b, do you think that could just be paid out? I doubt that it could.
    - #’~A*QXm(>NRmm]w?dU4v!=^
      That $5b is not located in just 1 bank, but probably spread out. So what’s the big deal?
Tony B.
Every one of these banking & their satellite organizations is a Rothschild cabal owned entity.
Those here who love to play the Rothschild “divide and conquer” stupidity can keep on keeping themselves as goy dirt to be misused if they please but the only way to stop the world destruction by this cabal is for ALL TO JOIN TO DESTROY THAT CABAL INSTEAD OF IDIOTIC INFIGHTING AMONG COUNTRIES AND SECTS.
Luke Hemmming
Don’t worry the Russians can probably easily bypass the banks cyber security measures and steal that money away from them. So there Rothschilds…Fuck you!, two can play that game MOFO’s

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