BISHKEK, Kyrgyzstan, September 13. Kyrgyzstan’s "Bank of Asia" will only be able to conduct SWIFT transactions in euros to the EU countries, the UK, and Switzerland starting from September 20, Trend reports.
The introduction of such restrictions in the "Bank of Asia", as well as in several other banks in Kyrgyzstan, is explained by changes in the execution of international transfers through the SWIFT system by the correspondent bank, Germany’s Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg (LBBW).
At the moment, LBBW is the only correspondent bank for "Bank of Asia" that processes payments in euros.
LBBW has limited SWIFT transfers in euros beyond the EU, the UK, and Switzerland starting from September 20. The bank has warned that all euro payments outside these countries through the SWIFT system will be unavailable.
Kyrgyzstan’s "Finka Bank" and "Kyrgyz Investment Credit Bank" (KICB) have made similar announcements earlier. "Finka Bank" said that they will attempt to establish additional correspondent relationships with other banks for conducting SWIFT payments in euros.
Meanwhile, KICB announced that euro payments outside of Europe will be processed through the Italian “UniCredit Bank”.