(Finance) – Russia will prevent foreign banks from leaving the countrythrough the sale of their local subsidiaries, as long as the branches of Russian banks are deprived of the opportunity to function properly abroad. This was announced by Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseev, thus complicating the operations of European banks that are considering what to do with their operations in Russia. Among these there are Raiffeisen, UniCredit And Citithe three largest Western banks present in Russia after that Societe Generale sold the Rosbank division to Interros Capital
“Our state-owned banks, which are subject to sanctions, and our banks in general which are subject to sanctions, have had major problems with debottlenecking at their overseas banks. In some cases, (foreign regulators , ed) have even taken away the shareholder’s right to manage them, which is real legal chaos. We discussed in our subcommittee that now, until the situation improves, we will not give permission to sell the assets of foreign banks in Russia“, the deputy minister told reporters, according to reports from the Russian news agency Interfax.”If the requests come in, I will refuse them“added Moiseev.
“We are talking about branches of foreign banks. Everyone knows their names. We are letting them operate normallywhile ours can’t do anything there, “Moiseyev said.
When asked about the outlook for the transfer of branches of foreign banks to Russian banks, Moiseyev said that this is not on the agenda, but that it can be ruled out. “Perhaps we will support (these positions, ed) as the situation evolves […]. In this sentence, the problem has not yet arisen, but I do not rule it out in the future“, he stressed.