In his recent interview to Bloomberg President and Chairman of the Management Board of VTB Bank, Andrey Kostin said that a transfer to the Chinese payment system is possible over time, but not at the present moment. Recently, the necessity of reliable alternative to SWIFT is discussed rather frequently, just like the threats to disconnect Russia from this system. Interestingly, it is the Chinese International Payment System (CIPS) that experts name as the most suitable analogue. The VTB head said the international financial system was not very convenient for Russia as it posed a threat to the Russian security. “We’ll definitely work closer with Chinese colleagues to develop alternative systems,” the head of Russia’s second largest bank said. However, he doubted that the situation will reach its extremes. “I don’t believe there will be a decision on disconnection because this is a very unfriendly and even alien step towards Russia,” he said. Meanwhile, the Chinese authorities eagerly work on launching the international payment system this autumn. It is noteworthy, that the CIPS will perform only in the yuan. Experts are sure that with the help of this system, China’s national currency will become globally acknowledged. The People's Bank of China chose 20 banks to test the CIPS performance. Seven of these banks have foreign capital. The most crucial fact is that the process of cross-border yuan transactions is the same as the one in international payment systems. So it will be easy to carry out deals.
