Raiffeisen Bank is not leaving Russia again: the company's shares have been arrested

Russian arbitration court arrests shares of Raiffeisen Bank's subsidiary in Russia Raiffeisen Bank in the Russian Federation. This will "inevitably lead to delays" in the process of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) group's withdrawal from Russia, the bank says.

A statement was released by the RBI press service. "The Russian court has issued a preliminary injunction, according to which a transfer ban will be imposed on the shares of Raiffeisenbank JSC with immediate effect. Raiffeisen Bank International AG (RBI) is a 100% shareholder of Raiffeisenbank JSC, the statement said.

The banking group warned that this arrest would slow down its exit from Russia. Thus, Raiffeisen remains one of the few international banks that still remains in the Russian market, pays taxes there, and helps replenish the Kremlin's military budget.

"This (the Russian court ruling – Ed.) complicates the sale process, in which RBI is seeking to sell a controlling stake in Raiffeisenbank, and will inevitably lead to further delays. RBI will seek to overturn today's court decision by all legal means," the statement said.

Raiffeisen has been "leaving" Russia for a long time

The Austrian RBI has been assuring that it wants to leave Russia since the beginning of the aggressor country's full-scale invasion of Ukraine. However, the process was postponed for a long time due to the group's search for the least unprofitable ways to get rid of its Russian assets.

At the same time, the Russian Raiffeisen Bank was involved in more than one scandal. Among other things, it turned out that the Russian subsidiary of Raiffeisen officially recognizes the so-called LPR and DPR and calls the Russian war against Ukraine a "special operation" on the website and in the documents of its Russian representative office. The bank also directly assisted the Russian occupiers by offering loan repayment holidays and preferential loans to mobilized Russians.

Due to its operations in Russia and the ambiguous behavior of its Russian subsidiary RBI came under pressure from regulators and shareholders. In particular, the European Central Bank (ECB) ordered the bank to wind down its operations in Russia in 2024.

After that, RBI CEO Johann Strobl assured that at the end of 2024, Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) would begin a significant reduction of its business in Russia. Strobl said at the time that RBI was working on the sale of its Russian subsidiary.

Back in early 2023, the Office of Foreign Assets Control (OFAC) launched an investigation into Raiffeisen Bank's activities in Russia. RBI also received warnings from the US Treasury Department.

The group was informed that it could be cut off from the US financial system, not only because of its operations in Russia but also because of a dubious deal involving Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska. This deal, by the way, was quickly canceled, but the US Treasury Department, according to media reports, remained concerned about the RBI's work in Russia.

Earlier, OBOZ.UA reported on the pressure that Austria put on Ukraine to remove Raiffeisen Bank from the list of war sponsors in exchange for new sanctions against Russia. Failing that, the Austrian government could have voted against the 12th package of EU sanctions against Russia, but the list of war sponsors was officially closed.

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