20 Jun 2024 10:53

VEB proposes to more actively use CBR's SPFS to support Russia-Vietnam settlements

MOSCOW. June 20 (Interfax) - Russian state development corporation VEB has proposed to more actively use the Central Bank of Russia's (CBR) SPFS financial messaging system or alternative systems to support settlements with Vietnam.

"One of the important issues that need to be resolved is the development of international communication channels in conditions where there is an objective need to carry out cross-border settlements in national currencies. With this aim in mind, we are proposing to more actively use the Bank of Russia's financial messaging system or alternative systems to support settlements between Russian banks, including VEB.RF, and Vietnamese banks," VEB chairman Igor Shuvalov was quoted as saying by VEB's press service ahead of a Russian delegation's visit to Vietnam.

This would improve prospects for implementing Russian-Vietnamese investment and export projects, Shuvalov said, recalling that VEB is one of the oldest and most important participants in cooperation with Vietnam in the credit and finance field.

The Russian Export Center (REC), a division of the VEB Group, estimates the potential for non-resource non-energy exports from Russia to Vietnam at about $480 million per year, including $36.5 million of high value-added exports.

"Among promising areas, we highlight petrochemical products, products made from titanium and other metals, processed wood products, feed and fish products," Shuvalov said.

As of the end of 2023, 556 organizations, including 159 nonresidents from 20 countries, used the SPFS. Foreign participants sent 120% more financial messages in 2023 than a year earlier, the CBR reported.

The CBR previously published a detailed list of SPFS participants on its website, but it was closed to the public in April 2022 after a new wave of sanctions, including against Russia's largest banks.