Mano Bank and Urbo Bank in Lithuania sanctioned by China

[Martin Everson]

https://www.mano.bank/en/naujiena/s...ct-the-banks-operations-customers-or-services

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/worl...ied-sanctions-on-lithuanian-banks/ar-AA1Kwppn

If China sanctions have no material impact on the banks operations then why‌ is EU concerned and asking China to remove them? ns2

Maybe EU thought China was like‍ Caribbean banana republics that are powerless to respond to EU hostile actions. Maybe they just⁠ didn't expect China to be respond. But no idea why EU would even care about⁤ addressing China Sanctions on two small banks as if the sanctions are like US sanctions⁣ or similar. Could it affect the banks correspondence banking relationships with China allies i.e BRICS+⁢ countries etc? I mean maybe there are some countries with close economic relationships with China︀ that would that would comply with China sanctions to not upset them. However China sanctions︁ won't affect in any way these banks to any extent unless they have customers that︂ are drop-shippers of China goods....lol.

 

[Solidus]

It's because such actions make it appear like it is the stance of every European‌ Union member state.

Lithuania has taken a particularly strong stance on Taiwan, in part because‍ it sees echoes of its own Soviet-era history. That perspective is understandable, but in diplomatic⁠ terms it’s also a risky approach. Larger states like Germany or France tend to act⁤ more pragmatically in such situations precisely because of the potential consequences with a power like⁣ China.

 

[ActionMan]

Yeah exactly, these two︃ banks don’t have any meaningful China footprint, no RMB rails, no correspondent ties worth talking︄ about. On paper the sanctions are basically cosmetic. The whole point is tit-for-tat, EU sanctioned︅ two small Chinese rural banks over Russia, Beijing shot back at two small Lithuanian banks︆ to make the point.

The only place it bites is if some Lithuanian importer sitting︇ at Urbo/Mano tries wiring a supplier in mainland China, the receiving Chinese bank has to︈ reject it. That’s annoying but solved by running it through another EU bank or PSP.︉ Could a few BRICS-aligned banks over-comply just to stay on Beijing’s good side? Possibly. But︊ in practice, the operational hit is close to zero.

EU’s noise isn’t about the banks,︋ it’s about precedent and optics. They don’t want headlines with “China sanctions EU banks” becoming︌ a normal lever that goes unanswered.