The head of VTB proposed to limit the work of foreign banks in Russia

Andrei Kostin proposed to limit the work of foreign banks in RUSSIA. He believes that the countries that have frozen the assets of Russian banks abroad

The work of foreign banks in Russia should be limited, says the HEAD of VTB Andrey Kostin, he told this opinion to journalists on the sidelines of the SPIEF, RBC correspondent reports.

“We, as a sanctioned bank, will not buy non-sanctioned banks. it would be wrong, because the bank will immediately go under sanctions . But I can say that I would limit the activities of foreign banks in Russia today, because they are treating us unfairly, including our German bank,” he said.

Kostin also noted that VTB is not interested in buying Citibank's retail division in Russia.

VTB lost control of its European subsidiary VTB Bank Europe SE, which is based in Frankfurt am Main (Germany), in early April. The German regulator, the German Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin), banned VTB Bank Europe SE from following the instructions of the parent company, and VTB also lost the right to dispose of its financial assets and other resources.

VTB lost control over its European subsidiary VTB Bank Europe SE Finance

Shortly before this, the European Union, due to a Russian special operation in Ukraine, expanded sanctions against VTB, as well as three other banks, which account for 23% of the Russian banking sector market - Otkritie, Novikombank and Sovcombank.

The assets of these financial institutions in the EU were frozen, and a complete ban on operations also came into force. The previous version of the restrictions provided for their disconnection from the SWIFT interbank data exchange system.

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In April 2021, Citibank announced that it would wind down its retail business in 13 countries in the coming years, including Russia. The group announced that it intends to focus on retail development in Singapore, Hong Kong, the United Arab Emirates and London, as it does not have sufficient resources to compete successfully in other regions of presence. At that time, about 500 thousand individuals were served in the bank, a representative of RBC specified. The bank had 16 branches in eight Russian cities and continued to serve corporate clients.

In September 2021, VTB sent a non-binding offer to Citibank (the Russian subsidiary of the American Citigroup) to buy a retail business, VTB board member Dmitry Pyanov told reporters at a teleconference. Pyanov did not disclose the price offered by VTB to Citibank.

In March 2022, Citibank announced that it would stop looking for new customers in Russia and intended to "scale up" its exit from business in the country.