Three Russian banks will open branches in Cuba

Three Russian banks have expressed a desire to open branches in Cuba, said Boris Titov, authorized by the President of the Russian Federation to protect the rights of entrepreneurs, TASS reports.

He noted that the Central Bank of Cuba had received their applications, and Havana had already “confirmed its interest” in registering branches. However, the Ombudsman did not name specific credit organizations.

According to Titov, the possibility of creating “joint full-size” Russian-Cuban banks to finance small and medium-sized enterprises on the island is also being considered. “Today, the number of entrepreneurs in Cuba is growing and they need their own professional bank that can support entrepreneurial projects,” said the Ombudsman.

Titov added that Russia has already submitted its proposals on this matter to the Central Bank of Cuba and hopes for “quick progress”.

On Wednesday, the Cuba-Russia Business Dialogue Forum started its work in Havana. According to the organizers, representatives of 52 Russian and 106 Cuban companies. They plan to discuss the problems of transport logistics, as well as cooperation in agriculture, construction, processing industry, medicine and tourism.

In March, several banks in Havana, Cuba, began accepting cards from the Russian Mir payment system. Funds are issued in local currency. The approximate exchange rate of rubles to Cuban pesos when withdrawing cash from an ATM is from 1 to 1.5, respectively, without commission.

Despite this, in those days it was impossible to pay with the Mir card in restaurants and shops. However, they promised that such an opportunity would arise, without specifying when it would happen.

In April, Cuban financial and banking institutions resumed accepting US dollars in cash for crediting customer accounts, a ban imposed by the country’s central bank in 2021.