Ukraine crisis business FAQs
Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, we understand some of our customers and clients may have questions on how the impacts of the crisis could affect their business. So we’ve compiled some FAQs you might find useful.
What are Bank of Scotland doing to support the people of Ukraine?
As an organisation, supporting those in particular need in every UK community is central to our purpose – whether this is through our charitable Foundations, where we provide support for refugee and asylum seeker projects across the UK or by providing access to banking solutions for vulnerable customers, including refugees.
In terms of supporting the people of Ukraine - we are making a donation to support the relief effort and will continue to support refugees setting up bank accounts in the UK. We are refunding our fee on international payments made to Ukraine since 21st February, around the start of the conflict. We will continue to do this for any future payments destined for Ukraine until further notice. Clients will see a refund of the fee automatically paid back into their account, although this will take a number of days to appear.
Sanctions - what do they mean for our customers and clients?
In response to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, new economic sanctions have been introduced in recent weeks which means more payments than usual are being referred for additional checking and may be subject to a slight delay. The majority of payments will pass through our systems straight away and, in most cases, you will not notice any change to the way you currently bank. Further to economic sanctions, you may be aware that a number of Russian and Belarusian banks have been removed from SWIFT, the international payments’ messaging network.
We complete full and thorough checks to ensure we stay compliant with legislation, ensuring any payment made does not put our clients or the Bank at risk of breaching any sanctions. This is the same for all financial services companies that make and receive payments.
When you make a payment, it will show as leaving your account before we complete our checks. In the event of a positive sanctions match, the payment you made will be returned to you - this could be a number of days after the original payment date.
The list of individuals and organisations subject to sanctions is changing frequently. For a full list of UK, US and EU sanctions, please see the links below:
GOV.UK – The UK Sanctions List
European Commission – Restrictive Measures (Sanctions)
US Specially Designated Nationals & Blocked Persons List – OFAC
What’s Bank of Scotland's exposure to Russia?
It is important to note that as a UK focused bank we do not have major exposure in Russia, so any impact from sanctions are likely to be limited for us. We regularly review our exposures and this is no different. We are confident we have the right controls in place and are ready to support the government as and when we need to.
If you have any questions that haven’t been answered here, please get in touch with us via your usual business contact.
Not a business?
If you are a personal customer and want to know how we’re supporting our customers and the people of Ukraine you can find out here.