Because of the sanctions, Apple stopped transferring payments to iOS developers in some Russian banks

Apple has told mobile application developers about the ban on transferring funds to banks under US and EU sanctions. During the past year, several major Russian banks were subject to restrictions: Vnesheconombank, VTB, Bank of Moscow, Gazprombank, Agricultural Bank, Russia Bank, InvestCapital Bank, SMP Bank and others.

In a letter to the developers, Apple wrote the following:

On December 18, 2014, the European Commission published Council of Europe decree 1351/2014, and on December 19, 2014, the US president signed decree 13685. These documents limit Apple’s ability to provide any services in certain regions and to some banks in Eastern Europe and Russia. As a result, we cannot transfer payments to your current bank account. We will freeze your funds until you provide information about your bank account that is not subject to restrictions.

Co-author of YouDo applications, NaviMuseum , iDocs , iDocsVIP , Oleg Ovechkin was one of the first to respond to the letter:

When I wrote about this on Twitter, colleagues acknowledged receipt of similar emails. I have an account with the Bank of Moscow, with some developers - with Sberbank, Gazprombank. We'll have to transfer accounts to other banks, now everyone is wondering where it is better. By the way, in communicating with friends it turned out that many large players already have accounts in Western banks (in the Baltic States, Cyprus, etc.) - for example, such as G5 Entertainment and GameInsight

According to Appfigures, following last year’s results, 1.21 million mobile applications were registered in the AppStore catalog. The number of iOS-developers was slightly less than 300 thousand.

“The situation is expected. Developers need to open accounts in international European or American banks. You can change account tied to an Apple developer account quickly and without loss. It used to be difficult - all kinds of confirmations were needed. And now just change the details, ” explained Redmadrobot Development Director Max Voloshin to the Kommersant newspaper.