Ukraine crisis: US, European Union cut few Russian banks from SWIFT

Removing banks from SWIFT is deemed to be a severe curb because almost all banks use the system.

In a major move aimed to cripple Russia's economy, the US along with its key allies, including EU and the UK, have decided to disconnect key sanctioned Russian banks from the global financial system SWIFT and impose restrictive measures on its central bank in response to Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

It was also decided to launch a joint task force to hunt down assets of sanctioned Russian companies and oligarchs, according to a joint statement issued by the leaders of the US, the European Commission, France, Germany, Italy, the UK and Canada on Saturday.

The Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT)