We hope to establish system for cross-border settlements in digital rubles; not managed to implement streamlined system with partners - VTB CEO

ST. PETERSBURG. Sept 24 (Interfax) - VTB President and Management Board Chairman Andrei Kostin is counting on the creation of a cross-border settlement system using the digital ruble, given that Russia has not yet managed to establish another official and reliable system with its partners.

The digital ruble is the third form of the Russian national currency, issued by the Central Bank of Russia alongside existing forms of money/cash and non-cash.

"We are particularly counting on the cross-border settlement system. Because restrictions and limitations remain, and, we have to admit, while we have learned to conduct settlements in national currencies, the reality is that, with the exception of VTB's own banking operations, or Sberbank's partial presence in India, and our own in China and Vietnam, most other settlements are still rather clunky. They go through intermediaries, and so on," Kostin said at the International Banking Forum organized by the Association of Banks of Russia.

"We have not yet managed. The risks for our partners are significant together with our partners in BRICS, or even the CIS and so on, to create a coherent settlement system capable of official interaction. Nevertheless, a digital settlement system would, I believe, enable us to establish a more reliable and systematic framework for operations," Kostin added.

VTB is addressing payment-processing issues, though existing sanctions against the entire banking sector and the potential imposition of new restrictions are complicating these efforts, he said.

The digital ruble project, which was previously in pilot phase, launched full scale on September 1, with major banks, specifically those deemed systemically important and key players in the payment services market, and their clients, namely large retail companies, beginning to offerg customers the ability to conduct transactions using the national digital currency.

Central Bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina on September 23 said that the digital ruble platform could potentially be in line with similar systems used by Russia's partners for cross-border payments.