Russian clients have up to CHF200 billion in Swiss banks

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The Swiss banks are hit by European Union sanctions against Russian clients. © Keystone/Christian Beutler

Swiss banks hold between CHF150 billion and CHF200 billion ($160-$214 billion) in assets belonging to Russian clients, according to the Swiss Bankers Association.

The president of the associationExternal link, Marcel Rohner, made the estimate at the group’s annual news conference on Tuesday. Overall in 2020, Swiss banks had assets under management totaling CHF7,879 billion.

However, Rohner declined to quantify the amount of funds blocked as a result of the economic sanctions imposed by Switzerland against Russia.

He added that the exact amount might become clear later, as the banks will have to report the assets to the economics ministry by next June, according to the Keystone-SDA news agency.

Blacklisted Russian clients cannot withdraw any money from their Swiss accounts, nor can they deposit funds exceeding CHF100,000.

The Swiss government followed a first set of sanctions imposed by the European Union at the end of February, prompting debate about Switzerland’s neutral status.

The government said it would consider taking further punitive measures in the wake of additional EU sanctions announced over the past weeks.

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