Russian Bank Launches Currency Transactions in Lari

Russian Bank Tochka has launched currency transactions for entrepreneurs in the Georgian national currency – lari, according to Russian news outlets. This currency can be sent to any bank in Georgia and around the world, a representative of the credit institution told TASS. In addition to dollars, euros and rubles, which can be sent to some Georgian banks, it is now possible to make payments in lari to all Georgian banks. This is supposed to simplify the interaction between Russian entrepreneurs and counterparts from Georgia. In order to transfer money to banks in other countries the entrepreneur must open a foreign currency account. The fee for a foreign currency payment depends on the tariff.

In addition to the lari the bank works with several other currencies. These include yuan, lira, tenge, dram, dinar, dollar and euro.

“Last year the trade turnover between Georgia and Russia increased by 52% compared to 2021. Russia is now one of Georgia’s main trading partners, so we have launched a new currency to support the trend of interaction between the countries,”- said Anna Davydova, leader of VED Imports at Tochka.

Точка is a Russian board bank that operates without offices. It focuses on “creating an ecosystem of services for legal entities”, remote services for entrepreneurs. The bank received a license from the Central Bank of Russia in February of this year.

According to the National Bank of Georgia, Russia is the leading source of remittances to Georgia. In March 2023, 30.4 million USD (or 78.6 million GEL) were transferred from Georgia, which is 26.7% more compared to 24.0 million USD in March 2022.

 NBG reacts

Archil Mestvirishvili, Acting President of the National Bank of Georgia, commented that “if this bank is sanctioned, not a single bank will have a correspondent banking relationship with it. Therefore, there will be no transfers either in rubles, lari or any other currency.”

“If the bank is not sanctioned, there is no risk. No matter what currency is used for transfers. We will study it; we will also contact commercial banks, but even without us, if this bank and its owners are sanctioned, Georgian banks will not have any relations with them,” he stressed.

Note: This article was updated at 17:52 to reflect the comments by the Acting President of the National Bank of Georgia.

Also Read:

• 22/02/2023 – TI Georgia: Georgia’s Economic Dependence on Russia Increased in 2022
• 23/01/2023  – Finance Minister Says Georgia Leading in Enforcing Sanctions against Russia
• 02/05/2022  – Tbilisi Denies Aiding Russia Sanctions Evasion

This post is also available in: ქართული (Georgian) Русский (Russian)