Yellen Says Big Chinese Banks Are Adhering to Russian Sanctions

US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said she was most concerned about smaller Chinese banks doing business with Russia, even as she didn’t rule out sanctioning a bigger lender if it engaged in “systematic violations” of sanctions against the Kremlin.

“I think the large banks in China really, really value their correspondent-banking relations, and those are not banks that we most need to worry about,” Yellen told reporters in New York. “It’s smaller banks” that are of more concern, she suggested — though even there, “some of those banks also want to be able to process payments in dollars, do not want to be cut off from the US financial system,” she said.