After many companies were wrongfooted by the speed and breadth of prohibitions on Russia, banks are drawing up contingency plans in case geopolitical tensions between the West and China escalate, seven finance industry sources said. The U.S. Treasury Department, which runs the Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation, Britain's Foreign Office and Barclays did not respond to requests for comment. Three senior London-based bankers, who declined to be named because they were not authorised to speak publicly, said their boards had discussed the possibility of stronger Western sanctions on China in future. Scenarios from major cyber-attacks through to a military intervention in Taiwan could potentially trigger further prohibitions on China, one lawyer who advises banks said. One of the bankers said sanctions on Russia had "removed naivety" among businesses and prompted the industry to think more deeply about China risks.

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Persons: Neil Whiley, Whiley, Xi Jinping, Joe Biden, Leigh Hansson, Reed Smith, Banks, Biden, Sinead Cruise, Stefania Spezzati, Lawrence White, Michelle Price, Catherine Evans Organizations: Banking, UK Finance Bank, British, Reuters, UK Finance, HSBC, Barclays, JPMorgan, U.S . Treasury Department, Office, Communications, Standard Chartered, Standard, London underwriters, Thomson Locations: China, Western, Britain, U.S, Russia, West, Taiwan, Beijing, London, Ukraine, United States, British, Asia, Washington