Business

EU weapons of Russia’s largest bank are insolvent or sold

The Austrian operations of Sberbank, Russia’s largest lender, are nearing default while units in Croatia and Slovenia are being transferred to new owners by the responsible EU authority. restructuring failed banks.

The move was announced by the EU’s Single Settlement Board on Tuesday evening and makes Austria’s bank branch Sberbank the first banking victim of sweeping sanctions imposed on Russia in response to the Russian crisis. invade Ukraine.

SRB has been available ban most of Russia’s state-owned banks this week, after customers rushed to withdraw funds in response to Western sanctions.

SRB speak on Tuesday that it has decided to transfer all shares of its Croatian subsidiary Sberbank to Hrvatska Poštanska Banka, while its Slovenian unit will be transferred to Nova Ljubljanska Banka. It said the two banks would open on Wednesday.

“The SRB has also decided that a settlement is not necessary for the Austrian parent company of Sberbank Europe AG,” it added. “Bankruptcy proceedings will be carried out in accordance with national law. Qualifying deposits up to €100,000 are protected by the Austrian deposit guarantee system. ”

This is only the second time the SRB has taken control of a troubled bank since it was founded in 2015 as a pan-European body with the power to impose losses on banks. Shareholders and subordinate bondholders of the lenders were unsuccessful in their attempts to avoid government bailouts in the sector.

The last time the SRB took control of a bank through a formal settlement process was when it arranged the sale of Spain’s Banco Popular to rival Banco Santander for €1 in 2017.

Sberbank Europe has approximately 800,000 retail and corporate clients in Central and Eastern Europe, with nearly 4,000 employees and total assets of €13 billion. The Bank of Russia established a subsidiary in Europe when it acquired the Austrian international bank Volksbank in 2012.

Sberbank Direct, its online banking operation, has sought to expand its deposit base by offering German savers interest rates of up to 1.5% on their funds – much higher compared to the almost zero interest rate offered by most domestic lending institutions.

However, the Russian bank last year agreed to sell its operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia to a banking consortium led by AIK Banka of Slovenia. But that deal was not completed and was undermined by the collapse of Sberbank’s EU operations.

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