Russia's Sberbank reports $4.32 billion profit, dividends to boost Kremlin war chest
Being majority-owned by the Russian state, dividends can be used to fund the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Being majority-owned by the Russian state, dividends can be used to fund the full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
"Instead of repeated statements about intentions to reduce and sell their activities in Russia, the Raiffeisen Bank International is the Western lender with the largest operations in Russia."
Washington hopes they will allow Secretary of State Antony Blinken to arrive armed with diplomatic leverage on a visit to China this week, in a push to stop Beijing's commercial support of Russia's military production.
The news follows a similar warning received by Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) on April 18 that the ECB was requesting an accelerated wind-down of its business in Russia.
Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) said on April 18 that it expects a request by European regulators to accelerate the wind-down of business in Russia.
The data was another illustration of the increasing importance of the yuan in Russia's economy amid the growing de-coupling from Western financial systems.
Ost-West Handelsbank has been removed from the list, according to the information on the office's website. The names under which the bank used to operate earlier – VTB Bank Deutschland and VTB Bank Europe – were also struck down.
The move was likely spurred by the announcement of new U.S. sanctions against the Russian National Payment Card system (NSPK) in February 2024, which coincided with the second anniversary of the full-scale war and the death of Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny at a penal colony in Russia.
Several Chinese banks have stopped accepting payments from Russia in Chinese yuan, fearing ramifications of U.S. sanctions, the Russian state-controlled outlet Izvestia reported on March 21, citing representatives of the Russian baking sector and business.
Representatives from the partially Russian-state owned bank VTB told RBC that most banks in Armenia, barring VTB, would stop accepting cards that worked through the Mir payment system by March 30.
Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention (NACP) has refused to remove Austria's Raiffeisen Bank from the international sponsors of war list, citing the bank still not having a clear plan to leave the Russian market, Reuters reported on Feb. 15.
Ukrainian government bonds fell by up to 4.6% on Jan. 17, as Russia continued to mass troops on Ukraine’s border, fuelling fears of a large-scale invasion. Sovereign bond yields are often used as an indicator of foreign investor confidence in a country’s economy: the higher the yield,