Difficulties with the sale of Raiffeisenbank were associated with pressure from the European Central Bank

Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), which owns the Russian Raiffeisenbank, plans to receive a request from the ECB in the near future to accelerate the process of winding down its business in the Russian Federation, it says in a message from the Austrian banking group.

The RBI noted that the requirements of the European regulator go far beyond its own plans to further reduce business in Russia and may complicate the sale of the Russian subsidiary of the organization. It is noted that according to current recommendations, the loan portfolio should decrease by almost two-thirds by 2026 to the level of the third quarter of 2023, which amounted to 6.3 billion euros.

The Austrian bank continues to operate in Russia. Despite pressure from the European regulator, which requires credit institutions operating in the Russian Federation to have a clear action plan for leaving the country and regular reports on the work done, Raiffeisen stated that they do not intend to sell assets “at any price.” The net profit of the Russian division of the RBI in 2023 amounted to 1.3 billion euros. Compared to the previous year's figures (2.05 billion), it decreased by 35 percent.

Following recent Western media reports that Raiffeisenbank has begun looking for new employees in Russia, the RBI announced its intention to continue reducing its Russian business. We are talking about working on “a potential transaction, sale or spin-off that would lead to the deconsolidation of Raiffeisenbank in Russia from the group.”