Reuters: ECB putting pressure on Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to leave Russia

The European Central Bank (ECB) is pressuring Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank to wind down operations in Russia, Reuters reports, citing its sources.

According to two sources, the ECB does not demand that Raiffeisen Bank immediately pull out of the country but wants the bank to present a gradual unwinding plan.

“We have been asking banks to keep closely monitoring the business in Russia, and ideally, reduce it and wind it down as much as possible,” an ECB spokesperson noted.

Meanwhile, Raiffeisen Bank is not currently planning to send its Russia winddown plan to the ECB, a bank staffer told Reuters. The bank is carefully considering various business development options for its Russian branch, “including a carefully managed exit,” the staffer added.

In February, the US Treasury’s OFAC launched a probe into Raiffeisen Bank as the bank continues operations in Russia, Ukraine’s partially occupied regions, and Syria. In particular, the watchdog requested data on transactions and operations of several clients, a source then told Reuters.

Raiffeisen Bank is Austria’s second-largest lender and supports a large part of the national economy. The bank is also actively involved in business operations in Eastern Europe.