Raiffeisenbank collected invoices – Newspaper Kommersant No. 19 (7464) of 02/02/2023

As Kommersant expected, Raiffeisenbank was able to significantly improve its performance in 2022, in particular, to increase the volume of client funds on accounts by more than a third and show serious profit from the transaction business. In general, the Russian subsidiary provided 54.2% of the profits of the parent Austrian group RBI, despite the fact that the bank lost 1.2 million customers in Russia and keeps the option of leaving the country as one of the current strategies.

Raiffeisenbank, a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) in Russia, managed to significantly increase its deposit portfolio last year, according to the published financial statements of the parent group. Its volume increased by 36.1% over the year to €20.2 billion, despite a serious reduction in balances in the fourth and third quarters (by €5.25 billion and €4.1 billion, respectively). Another major foreign player, Unicredit Bank, on the contrary, had a portfolio of client funds that shrank by the end of the year (see Kommersant dated February 1). Raiffeisenbank did not show such an increase in a quieter 2021, when the portfolio increased by 19.7%.

The dynamics of 2022 is associated with a redistribution of the client base due to the imposition of sanctions against large Russian banks after the outbreak of hostilities in Ukraine. The growth of the deposit portfolio can be explained by the exodus of clients from sub-sanctioned banks to those that were not affected by the restrictions, says independent expert Alexei Nechaev. Since Raiffeisenbank is a bank with foreign capital, there are no risks of getting into the sanctions lists, it has become a “safe haven” for Russian clients, the expert says.

The advantage was that the bank continues to carry out cross-border settlements in foreign currency, Mr. Nechaev adds. Nowadays, this is an important point, not always associated with “black lists”: for example, Gazprombank, which is not included in the SDN list, has lost the ability to make payments in dollars (see “Kommersant” on January 25).

According to the expert, the main increase in balances in Raiffeisenbank occurred at the expense of corporate clients, and not the population. As a rule, large companies have several accounts in different banks at the same time, and when, for example, Sberbank, VTB and others fell under sanctions, customers could simply transfer funds to an account with Raiffeisenbank, he explains. “Always, and especially now, Raiffeisenbank has been one of the most stable foreign banks in Russia,” adds Vladimir Kozinets, President of the Association of Corporate Treasurers.

Indeed, as follows from the bank’s statements, the largest increase – 4.8 times – was shown by net fee and commission income (to over €2 billion), while net interest income increased by 2.05 times, to €1.5 billion. More € The bank earned 369 million of net income as a result of trading operations and revaluation, while a year earlier it received a loss of €27 million on them.

The total assets of Raiffeisenbank grew in 2022 by 43.4%, to €26.9 billion. However, the loan portfolio decreased by 22.8% at the end of the year, to €8.99 billion. The largest decrease occurred in the fourth quarter — by 31% , while in the previous two quarters the portfolio was above €13 billion. This may be due to the fact that the bank does not roll over loans that are amortized over time, experts believe. Raiffeisenbank did not respond to Kommersant’s request.

A Kommersant source familiar with the situation at the bank clarifies that the curtailment of lending is “a systematic preparation for leaving.” According to him, the bank is not developing new business with companies that have fallen under the sanctions, although it continues to service their current accounts in rubles. During the year, the number of bank customers decreased by 1.2 million to 3.2 million customers. It also follows from official reports that Raiffeisenbank keeps leaving Russia as one of the possible options for action.

However, despite this, the number of employees in the Russian Federation in the bank increased by 210 people and at the end of the year exceeded 9.5 thousand people, although the number of branches decreased by five, to 127 offices.

Olga Sherunkova, Maxim Buylov