Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) is delaying its exit from the Russian market. In this, he is supported by a number of officials who are trying to preserve long-standing ties with Moscow.
Reuters writes about this with reference to its sources.
According to them, Austria and Raiffeisen, which is at the center of the US investigation due to its ties to Russia, are resisting the bankʼs withdrawal from Russia in the hope that the war in Ukraine will soon end.
Although Austria publicly supports Ukraine, several officials told Reuters that they do not want to completely sever ties with Russia because they can be restored.
According to the interlocutors of the agency, the head of the central bank of Austria Robert Holzmann expressed concern about the pressure on the bank from the ECB president Christine Lagarde.
Raiffeisen also faces pressure from Washington. The bank submitted data on Russian transactions to the US Treasury Departmentʼs Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC). In June, Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner spoke to the US Treasury Secretary Brian Nelson and urged the US not to put pressure on the RBI.
Raiffeisen has not yet submitted a plan to exit the Russian market to European Central Bank (ECB) supervisors, sources told Reuters.
The bank wants to wait for the approval of the ECB before asking its shareholders to approve the restructuring of the business in Russia. This process can take months. This will also require the approval of the Central Bank of Russia, the Ministry of Finance of the Russian Federation, and in the case of a sale, even Vladimir Putin.
Raiffeisen Bank has about 2 600 corporate clients in Russia, 4 million local account holders and 10 000 employees. According to the sources, the Russian authorities clearly made it clear to the bankʼs management that they wanted to leave it in the Russian Federation to make international payments.
- More than 40 Western banks cannot leave the Russian market on acceptable terms due to the decree of Russian President Putin. It stipulates that any agreements on the sale or purchase of banks require the approval of the authorities. Those banks that are still trying to negotiate an exit from the Russian Federation fear that their Russian assets will be bought very cheaply by Kremlin-controlled oligarchs.
- In March, the Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International announced that it would be engaged in the possible sale or separation of its Russian business. There, they undertook to reduce activity in Russia.
- In May, EUobserver wrote that the European Union plans to help European companies leave the Russian market so that they do not finance a full-scale Russian war against Ukraine with their taxes.
- In June, the chief inspector of the European Central Bank, Andrea Enria, called on Eurozone banks to withdraw from the Russian market as soon as possible.