In every industry, but particularly in the financial system there are alternatives to the way money flows from one institution to another. Although there are alternatives, the reality is some systems dominate the others with scale, reliability and confidence.

In an article from Reuters, Russia has been trying to implement new systems that can go around the normal way of doing things. Russian Finance Minister Anton Siluanov was at a meeting with BRICS group which stands for Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa.

Russia has set up its banking messaging system known as SPFS, as an alternative to SWIFT. Russia also implemented its own card payment system MIR in 2015. The system known as SWIFT is a foundation of the existing monetary and financial system based on the US dollar. The card payment system is the one used by VISA and Mastercard, both suspended operations in Russia due to the war with Ukraine.

Russia had experiences with sanctions and expected more sanctions (although not to the degree they have been placed on the country during this war) and have trying to implement systems to go around although one can expect they are similar to small businesses and would need to ramp up volume and dependability.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, in every industry somewhere there are alternatives to doing something differently, most are small scale but they exist. If a company gets overconfident thinking they have the only solution, customers will find other solutions. If you use the sports analogy, the LA Lakers won the championship 2 years ago in basketball, this year they did not make the playoffs. Hopefully your investments stay competitive for years to come but always remember there are alternatives around the corner.

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.