Raiffeisen postpones exit from Russia: Austria protects ties with Moscow
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Raiffeisen Bank International is delaying plans to exit Russia, while Austria is strengthening its defense of long-standing ties with Moscow.
“European Truth” writes about this, Reuters reports with reference to three people familiar with the bank’s position.
Raiffeisen, the largest Western bank operating in Russia, had intended to spin off its Austrian subsidiary in Russia into a separate company by autumn 2023.
Raiffeisen Bank International has not yet submitted its plan to European Central Bank (ECB) supervisors, two people familiar with its dealings with the central bank said, making separation of the bank by September is unlikely.
Although Austria publicly supports Ukraine, several officials who spoke to Reuters said that do not want to completely sever ties with Russiawhich lasted for decades, believing that relations could still be restored.
Russian authorities have made it clear to Raiffeisen, which has about 2,600 corporate clients, 4 million local account holders and 10,000 employees, that it wants the bank to stay because it handles international payments, one of the people said.
The European Central Bank urged Raiffeisen Bank International not to pay a dividend this year because of concerns about Russia, one of the people said.
The bank is also considering a sale as an alternative to unlock up to €4 billion of capital tied to the profitable Russian unit.
However, the uncertainty caused by the Wagner group’s march on Moscow last month will make finding a buyer more difficult as the event has shaken Russia’s business elites, the source said.
We will remind, in the spring of 2023 it became known that the Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) banking group, after pressure from Austrian investors and the European Central Bank, announced that will deal with the possible sale or spin-off of its Russian business.
Read also: Credit holidays for the mobilized and hundreds of millions of euros for Putin’s war: why Raiffeisen is still in Russia
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