From Asia Times, May 5:
Mainland academics say a digital yuan could bolster China’s financial security against sanctions but others are skeptical
The Hong Kong Monetary Authority (HKMA) has prepared emergency plans in case Hong Kong or mainland China is eventually sanctioned by the United States for supporting Russia in its war with Ukraine.
HKMA chief executive Eddie Yue said the de facto central bank in Hong Kong maintained close communication with the People’s Bank of China (PBoC) on topics of financial security. He said the HKMA had plans to minimize risks in some extreme situations, such as the financial hub being removed from the SWIFT system.
Yue’s comments echoed a recent report published by the Financial Times, which said Chinese financial regulators and major banks held a meeting on April 22 to discuss the US sanctions China could possibly face.
Since Russian troops launched a full-scale attack on Ukraine on February 24, the US and European Union have imposed several rounds of sanctions on Russian officials, banks and oligarchs. They have also urged China to refrain from helping Russia to elude the sanctions.
On March 12, SWIFT disconnected seven Russian banks and their designated Russia-based subsidiaries from its financial transfer network. The sanctioned banks include Russia’s second-largest VTB, Bank Otkritie, Novikombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank and VEB.
On Wednesday, European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen announced that the European Union would stop purchasing Russian oil by the end of this year to punish Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. She also said the EU would boot Russia’s biggest bank out of the SWIFT global payments system....
....MUCH MORE
Related at Sputnik (WARNING - Russian state approved media), May 1:
Chinese Regulators, Banks Reportedly Brainstorm Ways to Save Assets Threatened by US
The move comes in the wake of the freezing of more than $300 billion in Russian Central Bank assets trapped in banks abroad by the United States and its allies, and threats to seize this wealth, or “redirect” it to other countries.Chinese state regulators held an emergency conference with major domestic and foreign banks to discuss means to protect the People’s Republic’s assets should the US impose sanctions similar to those it slapped on Russia in February, the Financial Times reports, citing people said to be familiar with the situation.The meeting, said to have taken place on 22 April, reportedly involved officials from the People’s Bank of China, the country’s powerful central bank, as well as the Finance Ministry. Representatives from every major national bank took part, as did major foreign lenders operating in the Asian nation, such as HSBC, according to the paper’s sources.An unnamed "senior finance ministry official" was said to have kicked off the meeting by saying Beijing had been "put on alert" of the West’s ability to seize foreign assets by observing what the US and its allies did to Russia....
....MUCH MORE
