German Banks Began to Reject Transfers to Belarus "Due to the Situation in the Country"

The sanctions are in effect.

At least two people told dev.by about problems with payments to Belarus from Germany. In both cases, it was about the Stadtsparkasse Mönchengladbach bank. And in both cases, readers say that the bank referred to the sanctions.

Owner of an IT company: "We are thinking of opening an account in a European bank"

The founder of an IT company, an HTP resident, Artem was unable to receive payment in euros from a German customer. On July 2, a German bank refused to transfer money to Belarus. The customer is served at Stadtsparkasse Mönchengladbach (a savings bank in North Rhine-Westphalia, located in Mönchengladbach), with transfers from there being carried out through the state bank Landesbank NRW.

According to Artem, it was the intermediary bank that blocked the payment to the Belarusian legal entity.

- Our client was told that, since July 1, state banks are prohibited from making payments to Belarus: they are afraid that the money may go to the sanctioned sectors. Therefore, they simply block everything.

Artem draws attention to the fact that this ban came into force on July 1, so the June experience of successful transfers, which IT specialists testified to, no longer counts.

- Today is only July 6, many companies have not even issued invoices for June, - he says. - I would like to talk to those who made the transfer from Germany in July.

Artem sees several solutions to the problem:

1. Return to work through UpWork. Money from the States is still flowing without problems. But I don't want to give the marketplace 5%.

2. PayOneer.

3. Open an account of a Belarusian legal entity in a foreign bank. “You won't be able to do this in Germany, but you can try it in Poland. Let's hope that Poland will not block transfers between different accounts of the same legal entity. Maybe there are simpler solutions. But now it seems the most comfortable."

4. Open a legal entity in a European country. "But it will definitely complicate our work."

Pallet manufacturer from Germany: "Offered by Western Union, but the supplier flatly refused"

The date of the ban, named by Artem - July 1 - may be wrong.

Another reader, a pallet manufacturer in Germany, Vladimir, believes that the ban came into force on June 26. He himself tried to transfer money to the Belarusian supplier of materials on June 29. The amount is small - 915 euros (“I paid 35 cubic meters, but took 39, I had to send the difference”).

- As a rule, money arrives the next morning. But here on the clock - lunch, no money. In the evening, the supplier calls me: did you transfer the money? We wait a few more days - nothing happens. And then we are told that the payment was declined due to political issues. And they give a link to this document from June 24th. On Friday, July 2, I applied for a refund, only on Tuesday the 6th the money came.

Refund, payment declined "due to the current situation in Belarus"

Vladimir began to look for other ways to pay off his partner. From communication with friends, he learned that payments from Germany to Belarus are successfully processed through a private Dutch bank IGN. He is now testing the German Postbank.

- Today we will try to make a payment through Postbank. We will send 100 euros and see the result.

What other options are there? Western Union. I suggested it to my supplier, but the man flatly refused: you will transfer me, and I will be prosecuted for tax evasion. The money should fall into the account of the legal entity.

In general, Vladimir believes that business in Germany was not well informed about the sanctions against Belarus, so many perceive problems with payments as fraud.

- In our country, the sanctions were never reported on TV or in the newspapers. When it touched me, they gave me a link with the following look: don't you know what's going on in the world? My supplier and I understand each other very well, but some people have just started doing business, have encountered non-payments, and think it is fraud. It is necessary to convey this information to people so that they quickly find a solution.