OREANDA-NEWS  Some Chinese banks, fearing secondary sanctions, are returning payments from Russia, Alexey Potapov, Deputy Chairman of the Board of SME Bank, told RIA Novosti.

"It is worth recognizing that some Chinese banks, fearing secondary sanctions, do refund payments to our customers. It largely depends on the purpose of the payment and the company making the transaction," he said.

First of all, "the risk group" includes transactions related to goods that have fallen under sanctions, he noted. "For example: metals, computer components and so on. At the moment, we advise clients to offer their counterparties to open accounts with other Chinese banks that do business with Russian banks," Potapov added.

According to him, among the bank's clients there are entrepreneurs who made payments in Chinese yuan at the Zhouzhou Commercial Bank. "However, the situation changed in December last year. Zhouzhou Commercial Bank, having received money from a Russian bank, began to return it back," he said.