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Wall Street warns US against barring Russia from Swift payments network

saw a version of this type of story in the headlines this weekend but with no internet access :-), (hint, hint honey :-) I couldn't read it until now.

My initial reaction upon seeing the headline (or something close to it) was this:

These banks aren't worried so much about removing Russia from SWIFT because of it "hurting the global economy and undermining the purpose of the penalties"

They're worried about the Russian response to such a move. 

I wanna be clear we haven't got them booted out completely, (Like the article mentions we don't own SWIFT) we are trying to hit certain Banks, targeted sanctions etc. Also to be clear, the Russians aren't gonna see much difference between targeted removal for some banks from SWIFT and complete removal. We are still putting all of this together so it will probably be a while before everything shakes out and we can know what the Russian response will be. We might just be giving them exactly what they wanted.

To be sure, It's a sad state of affairs when the Banks know and understand more about the risk than the politicians do.

"Some of Wall Street’s largest banks told US politicians and the Biden administration that kicking Russia off the Swift financial messaging system would have a far-reaching fallout that could hurt the global economy and undermine the purpose of the penalties, people familiar with the matter said."

"Banks including JP Morgan Chase and Citigroup suggested Washington stick with other types of sanctions to punish Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, the people said.'

Opponents of the idea passed along a warning: Booting Russia from the critical global system — which handles 42 million messages a day and serves as a lifeline to some of the world’s biggest financial institutions — could backfire, sending inflation higher and shielding financial transactions from scrutiny by the West.

(Maybe it was planned for and it's exactly what they wanted.)

"It might also encourage the development of a Swift alternative that could eventually damage the supremacy of the US dollar."

(Seems like something they might want)

"While refusing to rule out even the most drastic financial penalties, Biden administration officials privately concede that they aren’t seriously considering the Swift option for now because doing so would choke off all trade with Russia, including energy sales that are allowed under current sanctions.

"Such a move could also have much wider ramifications, possibly causing an energy crisis in Europe and ruining the livelihoods of ordinary Russians, a scenario officials say they want to avoid."

"Biden administration officials privately concede that they aren’t seriously considering the Swift option for now"

(This article was from Saturday, we have since targeted some Russian banks from the system.)

"Mr Menendez, along with Senators Bob Casey, Chris Van Hollen and House Intelligence Committee chairman Adam Schiff, has pressed the administration to remove Russia from Swift, something Mr Biden has said cannot be done without the help of European allies.'

Godspeed.

No time like the present to accept Christ.