BATTLE FOR WORLD / SPUTNIK NEWS | October 8, 2019: A few years ago Russia began creating its own payment network after the United States made threats to disconnect it from SWIFT.

Since then things have progressed resulting in the creation of Russia's own payment network called the ‘System for the Transfer of Financial Messages’ (Russian acronym SPFS) after Western countries tried to cut Moscow off from the SWIFT payment system in 2014 due to the crisis in Ukraine.

Eight foreign banks have connected to Russia’s SPFS financial transfer system and already three connections are fully operational, with another five more connections making the necessary technical preparations, according to Alla Bakina, director of the Russian Central Bank’s national payment system.

“We have provided the opportunity for foreign banks and legal entities to connect to SPFS. The system has around 400 users, interfacing with eight foreign entities,” Bakina said, while speaking at a banking and retail forum in Moscow on Wednesday (Sept. 2).

“Three foreign banks are already included in the user directory and are up and running, while others, having concluded an agreement, are carrying out the technical procedures for joining, engaging in testing, etc. First off all, [these banks are from the] Eurasian Economic Union,” Bakina noted.

She highlights that SPFS has grown over the past year, with traffic accounting for about 15 percent of that of SWIFT inside Russia, up from 10-11 percent in 2018.

The European Union and China are also creating their own SWIFT payment alternatives.

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