Western governments are no longer considering removing Russian banks from Swift: report

Germany's Handelsblatt newspaper reported that Western governments are no longer considering removing Russian banks from the Swift global payments system.

Economic sanctions targeting major Russian banks were considered an alternative, according to Handelsblatt's government sources.

The Russian rouble gained on the report.

We can't confirm. A German government source close to the matter told Reuters that it is not yet certain what is going to happen.

Excluding Russia from Swift, which would effectively cut the country off from the global economy, has been considered the ultimate sanction Western countries could take against Russia to deter it from taking further military action against its neighbour Ukraine.

The Swift system is used by almost all financial institutions around the world to wire money to each other, and is a cornerstone of the international payments system.