Raiffeisen Bank intends to sell the Russian division or withdraw it from the group’s structure

Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) will seek to sell or spin off its Russian subsidiary (Raiffeisenbank), informed bank.

“In order to keep the license, we will continue some banking activities in the Russian Federation. We just can’t wrap up all operations immediately. We will strive for a possible sale or spin-off of the Russian business,” said RBI CEO Johann Strobl (quoted by Reuters).

He also said that RBI had received an offer for a possible asset swap from Sberbank Europe (in the Russian Central Bank earlier reportedthat did not receive any complaints about this).

IN press service RBI confirmed that the group will continue to work on potential deals to deconsolidate Raiffeisenbank and the parent. At the same time, the Russian division will continue to carry out banking operations in accordance with the terms of the license of the Central Bank.

It is also reported that RBI will continue to cut business activity in Russia. In fact, this process is expressed in the reduction by Raiffeisenbank of the total volume of operations in foreign currency, as well as a decrease in the rate of issuance of loans.

In March, the European Central Bank demanded from the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International to leave Russia. Shortly before this, in January, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control (oversees compliance with US sanctions) requested the bank has details of the payment business, as well as transactions of certain Russian customers.

According to sources FT, by February 2023 Raiffeisenbank served almost half of all external payments in Russia. In March, the National Agency for the Prevention of Corruption (NAPC) of Ukraine contributed Raiffeisen Bank International to the list of international “war sponsors”.

Read more about the prospects of the banking group in Russia – in the publication “Kommersant” “Raiffeisenbank was told to exit”.

Grigory Leiba