Austria’s Raiffeisen Financial institution World (RBI) paused the sale of its Russian subsidiary in February amid indicators of a possible thaw in U.S.-Russia family members, the Monetary Instances reported Friday, mentioning unnamed assets aware of the subject.
“[The pause] is in an effort to assess the location and if the placement of the U.S. may exchange,” one supply advised FT, suggesting the financial institution is ready to look whether or not bettering diplomatic ties may ease drive from Western regulators.
Raiffeisen Financial institution World AG spokesman Christoph Danz afterward Friday denied the FT file in feedback to the state-run information company RIA Novosti.
Raiffeisen is the biggest and maximum winning Western financial institution nonetheless working in Russia since Moscow’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It has confronted drive from each U.S. and Ecu government to scale back its presence within the Russian marketplace.
In 2023, the financial institution introduced plans to promote or spin off its Russian operations.
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FT stated RBI’s choice to halt the sale got here as U.S. President Donald Trump started advocating for a negotiated peace agreement in Ukraine and signaled a willingness to renew broader financial engagement with Russia.
RBI’s go out from Russia was once already sophisticated via prison drive from the Kremlin.
In September, a Russian court docket iced over Raiffeisen’s stocks in its native subsidiary. And in January, the financial institution was once hit with a 2 billion euro ($2.2 billion) damages advantageous, contributing to a $926 million internet loss within the fourth quarter of 2024 — the financial institution’s first quarterly loss in just about a decade.
RBI showed to the FT that the court docket ruling had successfully introduced the sale procedure to a standstill.
“Nowadays, RBI’s stocks in Raiffeisen Financial institution Russia are blocked and a transaction would due to this fact no longer be conceivable at this day and age,” the financial institution stated in a remark.
The financial institution is ready to enchantment the court docket ruling on April 24.
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