Kazakh banks sever ties with sanctioned Russian payment system Zolotaya Korona
In an unexpected move, several major Kazakh banks, including HalykBank, Bank RBK, and Eurasian Bank, have suspended transactions through the "Zolotaya Korona" payment system. The abrupt suspension of transactions comes "for technical reasons," according to a report from Russian news agency TASS on Thursday.
Freedom Bank was the pioneer in this wave of suspensions, citing "technical work" as the reason for halting operations with the payment system. The bank emphasized that future steps will be determined after receiving more information from "Zolotaya Korona."
Meanwhile, other significant players in the Kazakh banking sector, such as CenterCredit, Bereke Bank, and Nurbank, have declared that they will continue to process transactions through "Zolotaya Korona."
"Zolotaya Korona" has been crucial for Russians trying to move money abroad and receive international transfers, especially after Russia's disconnection from the SWIFT network. The service has gained more importance following the exit of Visa and Mastercard from the Russian market.
On August 23, the U.S. Treasury imposed blocking sanctions on the developer of "Zolotaya Korona," IT company Center of Financial Technologies (CFT). The sanctions prevent any U.S.-registered entities from interacting with CFT and seize its ability to conduct transactions in dollars.
This comes on the heels of earlier U.S. sanctions against another Russian money transfer service, "Unistream," which was also targeted due to Russia's war in Ukraine.