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Finam, a retail brokerage firm operating in Russia, is looking to buy a bank in Kyrgyzstan, Russian firm’s president Vladislav Kochetkov told Reuters.
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The move is aimed at simplifying cross-border transactions due to the sanctions imposed by the US-led western alliance.
The sanctions have cut off the Russian banking sector from several financial markets, which has led to an increase in Russia’s demand for banking services in Soviet republics within the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS).
“We are considering different opportunities to work with counterparty banks: from opening correspondent relationships to buying a share or the whole business,” Kochetkov told the news agency.
“No binding agreements have been signed with anyone yet,” Kochetkov added, without providing any details.
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By GlobalDataIn late-February, Russia launched a military offensive against Ukraine, which led the alliance to impose unprecedented sanctions on Moscow.
The sanctions have targeted major Russian banks and cut them off from SWIFT, the global interbank payments messaging system.
The restrictions have not only hampered the inflow of cash euros and dollars into Russia, but they have also forced foreign firms including Visa and Mastercard to suspend their Russian operations.
Last month, the head of a stock market association told the news agency that the sanctions have forced retail investors to switch brokerages to prevent their investments from being frozen.
By maximising the number of bank partners, Finam, which caters to around 400,000 customers, aims to avoid a situation where one of its foreign banks shut down foreign exchange transfers.
