Hey bunqers 🌈,
As a bank, we're legally required to follow and apply all sanctions imposed by the European Union. These can have an impact on your daily banking activities if you have Belarusian or Russian nationality. All measures taken in response to these sanctions and when they apply are explained below.
Why do we do this?
The sanctions mentioned in this article are synchronized as per:
(EU) 833/2014: Article 5b of Regulation (EU), as further amended by Council Regulation (EU) 2025/2033 for Russian nationals
Council Regulation (EC) No 765/2006 for Belarusian nationals
If you believe that any of the sanctions are applied incorrectly, you can always contact us directly through the Support center for further assistance.
Documentation Requirements
To stay in line with the latest EU regulations, we need to verify that all of our users from Belarus and Russia have a valid residence permit or citizenship in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. This helps us keep all accounts fully compliant and the banking environment secure.
This means that if you’re a Russian or Belarusian national, you’ll need to submit a valid document which proves that you reside in or are also a national of the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. This follows EU regulation changes which went live October 23, 2025.
If our system detects that your verification documents are missing, you’ll see an in-app event inviting you to re-verify your identity. The whole process is quick, secure, and can be done straight from your mobile device. You’ll just need to submit valid proof of your residence permit or citizenship in the EU, EEA, or Switzerland. You can view the list of accepted verification documents here.
Closing your bunq Account
In case you're not following bunq’s Terms & Conditions (where all the sanction-related regulations are listed), we have the right to suspend and close your bunq account. You can learn more about this here.
ID verification
As a Belarusian or Russian national, your identity verification request will be reviewed individually. Keep in mind that, in some cases, your ID verification may take longer due to regulations and the legal document requirements.
Learn more about the accepted identity documents here.
International funds transfer
We have adopted a measure concerning SWIFT transfers to prevent large-amount transfers from Russia and Belarus to Europe. That’s why we actively monitor international transfers to your account. This can mean that some transactions to your account are stopped. We review these transactions on hold as soon as possible, usually within 48 hours, and may ask for some additional information regarding your transfer. Learn more about this here.
On occasion, the review can take up to 7 days. We will make sure to keep you in the loop every step of the way!
Also, keep in mind that in March 2022, a number of Russian and Belarusian banks were excluded from the SWIFT international payment system. Please see the list of excluded sanctioned banks at the bottom of this page.
How are partner services affected?
Currency Cloud service regulations
CurrencyCloud, our partners for Local Currencies, won’t process transfers to and from Russia and Belarus until further notice. This means that your Local Currencies accounts can’t send or receive transfers from Russia and Belarus from 9th of March, 2022, 12:00 CET onwards.
Wise service regulations
Wise informed their customers and partners that from the 1st of March, 2022, they’ve deactivated their services for Russia and Belarus in RUB currency. This means that you can't send or receive transfers from Russia using Wise.
Mastercard service suspension
In an official statement on their official website, Mastercard announced the suspension of all of their services in Russia. This means that your Mastercard won’t operate when used at Russian ATM machines or merchants.
List of banks that we are unable to process SWIFT payments from:
For Russia 🇷🇺
VTB (VTBR.MM)
Bank Otkritie
Novikombank
Promsvyazbank (PSKBI.MM)
Bank Rossiya
Sovcombank
VEB
VTB Bank
Sberbank
Credit Bank of Moscow
Russian Agricultural Bank
Ak Bars Bank
Uralsib Bank
Tochka Bank
National Reserve Bank
Roseximbank
Bank SINARA
Primsotsbank
BBR Bank
RNKO
Petersburg’s Settlement Center
Kuznets Business Bank
MIR Buisness Bank
Kuban Kredit
T-bank
Bank Saint Petersburg
Centrocredit
Yandex Bank
Surgutneftegazbank
Metcombank
Severgazbank
Genbank
Bystrobank
Energotransbank
Tatsotsbank
Bank Zenit
Transstroybank
FINAM
Ozon Bank
Ekspobank
LOCKO Bank
Bank DOM.RF
SME Bank
LANTA Bank
Bank131
Bank RostFinance
NPO ‘Istina’
Zemsky Bank
Commercial Bank Absolut
PJSC ‘MTS Bank’
JSC ‘ALFA-BANK’
For Belarus 🇧🇾
Belagroprombank
Bank Dabrabyt
Development Bank of the Republic of Belarus
Belarusian Bank For Development And Reconstruction
also including all of the mentioned above Belarusian subsidiaries
Important note: The Intermediary bank makes the final ruling if a certain transfer is sent successfully, therefore some other banks not mentioned above may experience unsuccessful transactions too.