The European Commission has proposed sanctions against Credit Bank of Moscow and the Russian Agricultural Bank, two EU sources told Reuters on Wednesday.
Earlier on Wednesday the head of the EU commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said that Sberbank would also be sanctioned. EU governments need to back the proposal before it is adopted.
If the proposal is approved, the three banks would be excluded from the SWIFT banking system, the source said, complicating their transactions with other lenders.
However, the Commission did not propose a full ban on transactions or asset freezes, which have been imposed on other Russian banks in a previous round of EU sanctions, including VTB.
Sberbank is Russia's biggest bank.
The Commission refrained from proposing sanctions on Gazprombank, which is crucial for gas payments.
The EU has imposed no sanctions on Russian gas yet.
Previous rounds of EU sanctions have targeted other Russian and Belarusian lenders, after Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a "special military operation".
(Reporting by Francesco Guarascio @fraguarascio and Jan Strupczewski; editing by Louise Heavens and Jason Neely)
