Leading Russian banks are working on plans to help each other retain at least short-term access to the global financial system in the event that they are hit by fresh U.S. sanctions, sources familiar with the matter told Reuters. Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank and others are examining how they can provide each other with access to U.S. dollars or other major foreign currencies by using so-called correspondent accounts, the sources said. Banks access financial services in different jurisdictions and provide cross-border payment services to customers in various currencies through correspondent banking relationships. The new scheme, which banks started to draft with Russia's finance ministry and the Central Bank last year, would be unlikely to work indefinitely but could help avoid a panic if one or several big banks are cut off from dollar transactions. U.S. lawmakers last year drafted a sanctions bill which proposed cutting off some of Russia's top banks from the U.S. dollar system, mentioning Sberbank, VTB, Gazprombank, Russian Agriculture Bank, Promsvyazbank, VEB and Bank of Moscow. This did not come into force and recently another was proposed, without mentioning any specific banks. But Russian banks still fear they could come under sanctions and so have begun to draft a contingency plan. "Each important bank has a step-by-step plan on what should be done in a given situation. The first month is set out day by day, if not hour by hour," a senior financial official said.

The Central Bank and Gazprombank declined to comment. The finance ministry, Sberbank, VTB, Promsvyazbank, VEB and Russian Agriculture Bank did not reply to requests for comment. The two biggest threats to the banking sector in Russia are being cut off from the SWIFT banking messaging system and losing access to foreign currency, which they usually get from U.S. banks via correspondent accounts. In the event of being shut out of SWIFT, Russia already has its own system, which it is upgrading. And for foreign currencies there are a number of options, said the sources, who include a high-ranking state banker, a well-placed industry official, an executive with a large bank and an individual in a foreign bank.