Nikkei learned about US pressure on Hong Kong banks due to sanctions against Russia

An official of the US Treasury held meetings with representatives of 12 Chinese and foreign banks operating in Hong Kong regarding compliance with anti-Russian sanctions. Moscow considers them illegal

American officials in Hong Kong held meetings with representatives of Chinese and foreign banks regarding compliance with sanctions against RUSSIA, the Japanese Nikkei newspaper reports, citing sources.

According to him, the DIRECTOR of the Department for Combating Financial Crimes of the US Department of the Treasury, Andrea Gacki, chaired two meetings attended by representatives of the Chinese Bank of CHINA , Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Bank of Communications, Hong Kong CMB Wing Lung Bank, Swiss UBS, American Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, BlackRock, Germany's Deutsche Bank and Britain's Barclays, as well as the Hong Kong branch of the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Officers.

“U.S. officials want to reduce risks and financial institutions want to do more than they currently do, such as checking transactions and curbing goods heading to Russia,” one participant in the meetings said, according to Nikkei.

Banks were concerned about the risk of secondary sanctions if they were involved in circumventing anti-Russian sanctions, which could result in facilitating transactions of sanctioned entities or trade in goods subject to EXPORT controls, the magazine indicates. According to his investigation, Hong Kong has become a major center for the export of chips to Russia with high added value.

The United States has repeatedly stated that it is monitoring compliance with anti-Russian sanctions and has threatened measures against those individuals and companies that allow Moscow to circumvent restrictions. Thus, in December 2022, the State Department announced that it was ready to punish Turkish companies for non-compliance with the American sanctions regime, including by introducing secondary sanctions.

Last August, The Wall Street Journal wrote, citing sources, that American authorities were trying to get Turkey to comply with restrictions, but at the same time “avoid a scenario in which the Turkish side would be subject to sanctions.”

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Russia called the sanctions illegal. The Central Bank listed problems with international payments and blocking of private assets among the “painful” financial sanctions.