From now on, European banks and financial institutions are prohibited from issuing and reissuing any payment instruments for Russians who do not have the right to permanent residence in the EU. The ban covers not only plastic cards, but also digital wallets, tokenized assets, as well as Open Banking systems that allow payments to be made directly from the account.
Who does it concern?
● Citizens of the Russian Federation without a residence permit.They will no longer be given new cards. Already issued cards will work until the expiration date (they can be used for cash withdrawals and payments), but it will be impossible to reissue them after the expiration date.
Holders of a residence permit (including Switzerland and the EEA).Services will be available for them, but the validity period of the cards will be linked to the validity period of the residence documents.
Holders of long-term visas (type D).They are considered residents and retain the right to service within the period of validity of the residence permit.
Important clarification:sanctions do not require the forced closure of already opened accounts. Russians will retain access to online banking and will be able to make transfers as usual.
In addition, the EC has ordered providers to monitor attempts to circumvent sanctions through intermediaries in third countries. At the same time, European companies are allowed to work with firms from the EU and third countries, even if their beneficiaries are Russians (provided that these firms are not created specifically to circumvent restrictions).
Experts believe that the published clarifications will become a clear roadmap for banks and reduce the number of cases of preventive account blocking caused by ambiguous interpretation of previous formulations.
Source: Forbes
