Against the backdrop of deepening financial sanctions by the U.S., EU, and China against Russia, traditional cross-border settlement channels face severe challenges. Russias?Foreign trade?bank (VTB), leveraging its branch license in China and independent clearing system, has become one of the most reliable settlement channels for China-Russia trade. As a professional agency focused on the Russian market, we have accumulated extensive practical experience in VTB settlements. This article systematically analyzes the latest 2025 VTB settlement processes, account-opening strategies, fund path designs, and risk mitigation solutions to help foreign trade businesses securely and efficiently collect payments from Russia.

Current advantages and applicable scenarios of VTB Bank settlements

Under the backdrop of escalating international financial sanctions in 2024-2025,VTB BankDue to its unique market positioning and licensing advantages, it has become a "green channel" for Sino-Russian trade settlements. Compared to other banking channels, VTB Bank Shanghai Branch possesses several irreplaceable core strengths:Closed and secure fund paths, using VTBs internal clearing network without relying on SWIFT;Free RUB conversion, allowing clients to convert RUB to CNY at market rates anytime;Unaffected by third-party sanctions, as long as goods clear customs normally, VTB can process corresponding settlement payments.

From an applicability perspective, VTB settlements are particularly suitable for the followingtrade scenarios:

• Conventional goods trade: Non-sanctioned categories like machinery, consumer goods, and electronics
• Long-term stable cooperation: Exporters with ongoing supply relationships with Russian buyers
• High-value transaction settlement: Trade contracts with single transaction amounts exceeding $100,000
• Clear tax refund requirements: Foreign trade enterprises requiring formal customs declaration and tax refund documentation

In our companys actual agency business, weve found that clients using VTB settlement generally focus on three core issues:Fund security, operational convenience, and cost controllability. To address these needs, VTB Shanghai Branch provides relatively comprehensive solutions—funds circulate only within the VTB system, avoiding intermediary bank interception risks; supports online payment instruction submission with stable arrival time of 1-3 working days; transparent fee structure, showing obvious 3-5% cost advantage compared to third-party payment channels.

It is worth noting that VTB settlement is not a "one-size-fits-all solution," as it also has certain limitations.limitations: Relatively high account opening threshold, with new policies prioritizing central enterprises, state-owned enterprises, and large foreign trade companies; possible rejection by some domestic banks during RMB transfers; relatively high account maintenance costs (650-1200 RMB monthly online banking service fee for domestic enterprises). Therefore, we typically advise clients to use VTB as their main account while maintaining 1-2 border bank accounts as backups, depending on their business scale and characteristics.

If you want to avoid account opening hassles, contact us?Zhong Shen?, entrust us to?Export Agency?, and use our VTB account for transactions.

Below is a general account opening process for clients who want to open VTB accounts themselves.

VTB Account Opening: Complete Process Guide and Key Strategies

Successfully opening a VTB account is theprimary prerequisitefor trade settlement through this bank, and current account opening policies and procedures have significantly changed compared to previous years. The latest 2025 information shows that VTB account opening authority has been centralized under the Russian headquarters, with the Shanghai branch no longer directly accepting new account applications, making the overall process stricter and longer.

Regardingaccount opening eligibility?Import/export?Enterprises (must have Foreign Trade Operator Registration) and Hong Kong-registered companies. The opening of personal accounts has been suspended. It is particularly noteworthy that internal bank reviews tend to approve "enterprises (requiring Foreign Trade Operator registration) and Hong Kong-registered companies. Personal accounts have been suspended. Notably, the banks internal review tends to favor account opening through"Account opening, which refers to Russian importers with existing VTB accounts recommending Chinese exporters to open accounts at their headquarters, has a higher success rate and can shorten the processing period to 10-15 working days."

, where existing VTB account-holding Russian importers recommend Chinese exporters to the headquarters—this method has higher success rates and can shorten the process to 10-15 working days.basic materialsLocal adaptation testing of parts (such as adjusting the national standard brightness of lamps);

• Required documents for account opening
• Company registration documents (business license, articles of association, etc.)
• Legal representatives ID/passport original copy
• Foreign Trade Operator registration form
• Bank statements and financial reports for the last 3 months

Russian buyer information and historical trade documentsA key new requirement added in 2025:Stricter requirements are now in place, with banks verifying a companys trade records with Russia over the past 12 months and prioritizing approval for enterprises with actual business needs. Therefore, we recommend that companies planning to open accounts prepare customs declarations, contracts, and other trade documentation in advance. Newly established companies need to provide detailed business plans outlining their Russian business strategies.

Account opening processCan be divided into five key steps:

1. Preliminary review and assessment: Submit basic company information to VTB headquarters through Russian partners to obtain initial feedback on account opening feasibility
2. Document preparation: Prepare a complete set of documents according to the banks latest checklist, paying special attention that all Chinese documents must include notarized Russian or English translations
3. Appointment for face-to-face signing: After preliminary document review, legal representatives will be arranged to visit the Shanghai branch for face-to-face signing (current waiting period is approximately 2-3 weeks)
4. Account review: After face-to-face signing, the application enters final review at headquarters, typically requiring 7-10 working days
5. Account activation: Upon approval, the bank will send internet banking UKey and related operation manuals

Post-account openingAccount maintenanceis equally important. VTB has high requirements for account activity, and accounts may be suspended after 6 consecutive months without transactions. We recommend clients maintain at least 1-2 reasonable-sized transactions monthly while keeping complete trade documentation (contracts, invoices, customs declarations, etc.) for potential review. The bank conducts annual KYC (Know Your Customer) reviews, and timely updates to company financial information and beneficial owner details can prevent account abnormalities.

Table: Common issues in VTB account opening

VTB settlement practice: from payment to?Foreign exchange settlement?Complete process analysis

After successfully opening a VTB account, enterprises need to master the completeFund operation processto efficiently and securely complete trade settlements. Based on our experience in handling hundreds of Russia-related transactions, VTB settlement can be divided into four key stages:Russian buyers payment, fund receipt review, currency exchange, and domestic transfer, each with specific operational points and risk control measures that require special attention.

Payment initiation stage, Russian buyers typically remit funds to VTB accounts through any domestic bank. While VTB recommends using its own clearing system (SPFS), in practice SWIFT transfers from other Russian banks can also be received normally, though the arrival time may be delayed by 1-2 working days. The key lies inpayment remarksIt must be filled out in a standardized manner. We recommend adopting a unified format: "Contract No. [Contract Number] for [Product Name]." This not only meets the bank's review requirements but also facilitates corporate financial reconciliation. Common payment issues include buyers entering the wrong SWIFT code (the code for VTB Shanghai Branch, VTBRCNSH, should be used) or omitting intermediary bank information. Regardless of which VTB bank is involved, the first four characters of the SWIFT code must always be VTBR.

Fund receipt stageis the key node for risk control. VTB Shanghai Branch conducts compliance reviews for each incoming fund, mainly checking three aspects:Trade authenticity(corresponding customs declaration or contract),Transaction rationality(price and quantity matching industry standards), andSanctions compliance(payer not on OFAC sanctions list). According to our tracking data, the average review time in 2025 was 1.5 working days, with complex cases potentially extending to 5 days.

Currency exchangeis VTBs core advantage. Rubles in the account can be exchanged for RMB at any time through online banking or counter instructions, with the exchange rate based on VTBs daily quotation. Contrary to common perception, VTBs RUB/CNY exchange rate is linked to the Moscow Exchange in real time, with spreads typically controlled within 0.5%. We recommend clients pay attention to the schedule of the Russian Central Banks monetary policy meetings and concentrate foreign exchange operations during periods of relative ruble stability, avoiding operations during frequent sanctions news periods.

Document managementis an important guarantee for smooth settlements. We establish completeSettlement records, including the corresponding proforma invoice, sales contract, customs declaration, and shipping documents for each transaction, must be retained for at least 5 years as required by the Central Bank of Russia. This system not only meets compliance requirements but also enables quick responses during bank inquiries or tax audits. Last year, we assisted a machinery export company in responding to a random inspection by the Central Bank of Russia, providing complete chain evidence for all 187 transactions over 2 years within 3 hours, avoiding the risk of account freezing.

Special reminder for clients who recently havebulk transactionsPlanned clients, VTB implements a "one-time transfer exceeding $1 million" policy.tiered review"The system requires additional documents such as goods acceptance certificates and third-party inspection reports. We recommend reporting large transactions to the bank's account manager at least 10 working days in advance. When splitting payments, ensure intervals of more than 24 hours to avoid triggering the anti-money laundering system's warning mechanism."

Risk avoidance and common issue resolution

Although VTB Bank provides relatively stable settlement channels for Russia, under the current complex international political and economic environment, companies still need to establish comprehensiveRisk prevention system. Based on the dispute cases we have handled, the main risks in VTB settlements are concentrated infund freezing, exchange rate fluctuations, compliance reviews, and operational errorsfour major areas, requiring targeted prevention and response strategies.

Fund Security Risksis the issue that enterprises are most concerned about. Since the international sanctions against Russia were imposed, we have observed three typical scenarios: first, updates to the U.S. OFAC sanctions list have led to some Russian payers being added to the SDN list, resulting in the freezing of funds for Chinese recipient companies; second, domestic banks due to...secondary sanctions"Risk rejection of VTB RMB remittance; thirdly, VTB's internal compliance investigation temporarily froze suspicious transactions. To address these risks, we have established"three-tier prevention mechanism: pre-transaction verification of all parties (buyers, banks, freight forwarders) against the latest sanctions lists; ensuring fund routing does not pass through US financial institutions during transactions; and retaining complete documentation for post-transaction review. Especially for sensitive industries such as electronics and aerospace, we recommend clients use specialized screening software for in-depth due diligence.

Ruble exchange rate fluctuationsIt presents another major challenge. Influenced by international energy prices and the policies of the Russian Central Bank, the annual volatility rate of the ruble against the Chinese yuan often reaches 15-20%, with extreme cases seeing single-day fluctuations exceeding 5%. In practical operations, we recommend "batch settlement"Strategy: Divide the monthly collection into 3-4 exchanges to average out the exchange rate risk."

Compliance reviewIncreasingly stringent regulations are a prevailing trend. The new rules at VTB's Shanghai branch stipulate that any single incoming transfer exceeding $50,000 must be accompanied by the corresponding customs declaration form, and the HS code of the goods must not fall under Russia's restricted import list. The most common rejection reason we encounter is "questionable trade background", usually caused by a discrepancy of more than 10% between the declared customs value and the actual payment received. Another frequent issue is"Final user statement"For sensitive goods such as machine tools and chips, Russian buyers are required to provide a letter of commitment for non-military use, and we have standardized the template for such documents."

Table: Common VTB settlement issues

Operational errorSuch issues are often overlooked yet can lead to severe consequences. Typical cases include: buyers misspelling the company name during remittance, resulting in bounced checks; corporate finance mistakenly filling in VTB's account bank as the Moscow headquarters instead of the Shanghai branch, causing funds to be stranded; and confusion between "spot exchange" and "cash exchange" rates during foreign exchange settlement, leading to losses. We address these byStandard Operating Procedures (SOP)andDouble - person review mechanismto eliminate such errors, all critical operations like account entry and amount confirmation require independent verification by at least two persons.

For potentialDispute Resolution, we recommend clearly stipulating in the sales contract thatsettlement terms": In the event of a delay in funds due to bank-related reasons, both parties shall negotiate to extend the delivery period rather than cancel the order; if the payment is frozen, the buyer is obligated to cooperate in providing supplementary documentation; exchange rate risks are in principle borne by the buyer, and a sliding price mechanism may be adopted to adjust the payment. These terms have been meticulously designed by our legal team, complying with the legal requirements of both China and Russia, and have proven effective in actual disputes."