Russian Central Bank registers new payment system HELLO amid mounting sanctions

Amid mounting sanctions in the wake of the invasion of Ukraine, the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) has registered a new payment system called HELLO to the national register of credit institutions. The system's payment infrastructure services will be operated by the Russian commercial bank TransKapitalBank. The Russian commercial bank has a stake in foreign financial organisations such as the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, German Investment Corporation DEG, and International Finance Corporation. The HELLO payment system is a collection of payment services and institutions that makes money transfers easier, ANI reported. 

Last month, the Russian Central Bank declared that the sale of foreign currency has been halted until September in order to preserve the country's reserves. The authorities have set a $10,000 cap on foreign cash withdrawals until September 9, according to a CBR statement. It further stated that other funds will now be paid in rubles. "In Russian banks, about 90% of foreign currency accounts do not exceed the amount of USD 10,000, that is, 90% of holders of foreign currency deposits or accounts will be able to fully receive their funds in cash," the CBR stated, as per Sputnik news agency. 

Russia's Sberbank claims to have prevented attack on cardholders by Ukrainian app developers

Meanwhile, the Deputy Chairman of Russia's Sberbank Executive Board claimed that the financial services company prevented a large-scale attack on Russian cardholders, allegedly attempted by a Ukrainian app developer that tried to write off funds across its entire cumulative customer base. "I want to tell you about an attack that targeted many Russian citizens who have bank cards. Almost immediately after the start of the special operation, we stopped a massive withdrawal of funds from the cards of our clients," Stanislav Kuznetsov told Sputnik. He further claimed that the number of write-off attempts swelled every minute into the tens of thousands and these write-offs were started by a single Ukrainian company - a mobile application developer. 

Russia-Ukraine war

It is worth mentioning here that the war between Russia and Ukraine continues to escalate and entered its day 55th on Tuesday. On Tuesday, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov declared that Moscow does not seek to "change the regime" in Ukraine, but that the people of Ukraine must decide how they want to live. He also acknowledged that the "next phase" of the conflict has begun in the Donbass region of east Ukraine.

Image: AP/Twitter/@WITH_UKRAINE