Australian Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) intends to significantly reduce its business in Russia due to a requirement from the European Central Bank. This was announced by RBI Group CEO Johann Strobl to journalists. The bank will stop lending to new clients and will wait for already issued loans to be repaid. The process of exiting the Russian market will start in the third quarter of 2024.
We are drawing up a plan and analyzing what is possible to do and what will have to be done. Then we will assess what effect this will have on the results for the year.
According to him, one of the fastest and most transparent ways to leave Russia is to sell the business here, especially since the RBI Group has received similar offers from Russian and foreign partners over the past two years.
It should be noted that RBI plans to curtail corporate and retail lending programs, but it is not yet clear which direction will be reduced first. It is planned that by 2026, the loan portfolio of the Russian Raiffeisenbank will decrease by 65%.
It is worth recalling that Raiffeisen Bank International announced plans to reduce its business in Russia in the spring of 2022. Two scenarios for leaving the country were considered: the sale of Raiffeisenbank or the withdrawal of this asset from the international group Raiffeisen Bank International. So far, none of the scenarios have been implemented, as the sale of Russian Raiffeisen requires the approval of the Russian authorities.
In April 2024, the RBI Group announced that it expects a requirement from the European Central Bank, according to which the loan portfolio of the Russian Raiffeisenbank should decrease by 65% by 2026 compared to the third quarter of 2023.