Raiffeisen Bank International has changed the deadline for the divestment of its Russian subsidiary, RBI CEO Johann Strobl announced on Tuesday.
“We had previously mentioned 30 September as the earliest possible spin-off date, and currently that [deadline] seems implausible,” Interfax quotes Strobl as saying during a conference call with analysts.
Strobl said that the group will continue working on the option and that it is now considering late December as a possible deadline for the spin-off.
Strobl added that RBI is still considering the possibility of selling its Russian assets, saying that informal analysis shows there has been more progress in this area than with the planned spin-off.
In February, the US Office of Foreign Assets Control launched a probe into RBI’s operations in Russia, the partly occupied Donbas, Ukraine, and Syria.
Reuters reported in March that the European Central Bank had been pressuring Raiffeisen to leave Russia, pointing out that it was the most important Western bank in Russia since it allowed international payments.
On 30 March 2023, RBI announced that it had decided to spin off or sell its Russian assets.