HSBC stops processing all Russia payments for retail customers

LONDON (Reuters) – HSBC has stopped processing all payments from Russia or Belarus for personal banking customers, a spokesperson for the bank confirmed on Friday.

A message sent from the bank to its personal banking customers and seen by Reuters said the lender has “made the decision to stop processing payments” from the two countries, and to make alternative arrangements for any such transaction.

The decision to end personal banking payments follows the British lender’s exit from business banking in the country, when it finalised the sale of its business there in May, two years after its initial announcement of the exit.

(Reporting by Alex Lawler, Writing by Lawrence White, Editing by Louise Heavens)