Sberbank files lawsuits over loss of control over European subsidiaries

Sberbank is challenging the decisions of the European authorities regarding its three subsidiaries. Shortly after the start of the special operation in Ukraine, the ECB warned of the likelihood of their bankruptcy,

Sberbank appealed to the court of the European Union with a demand to cancel the decisions regarding its three European subsidiaries, the defendants in the claims are the Single Resolution Board (the European agency responsible for resolving bank problems), and also, in two cases, the European Commission. Interfax drew attention to this, information about the claims was published in the official journal of the EU.

The ECB warned about the bankruptcy of the "daughters" of Sberbank in the EU Finance

We are talking about the measures taken against the Austrian Sberbank Europe AG (which controlled its subsidiaries in several EU countries), the Slovenian Sberbank banka dd and the Croatian Sberbank dd The European Central Bank warned at the end of February, shortly after the start of Russia's special military operation in Ukraine, that all three structures faced a significant outflow of deposits and "become bankrupt or have such a prospect." In early March, the Austrian Financial Markets Authority banned Sberbank Europe AG from continuing to operate. The shares of the Croatian subsidiary were transferred to Hrvatska Postanska Banka, the Slovenian - to Nova ljubljanska banka by decision of the regulators. At the same time, Sberbank itself announced that it had decided to leave the European market: “The group's subsidiaries have experienced abnormal cash outflows and threats to the safety of employees and branches. By virtue of the order of the Central Bank of Russia, Sberbank of Russia will not be able to supply liquidity to European subsidiary banks.”

In the lawsuits, Sberbank, as follows from reports in the official journal of the EU, demands to cancel the adoption of schemes in relation to the Slavic and Croatian "daughters" and to cancel the assessment reports of the situation in all three structures. He argues the claims by the presence of procedural violations, violation of his rights to defense, rights to property and free business. The first deputy chairman of the board of Sberbank, Alexander Vedyakhin, told Interfax in June that "all banks were with a large margin of capital and liquidity."

“The sale of the loan portfolio fully covered all obligations to depositors, and there was still money left. If the loan portfolios or the banks themselves were sold for next to nothing, we will vigorously defend the interests of Sberbank in all possible courts. We have already begun this process,” he said.

Sberbank came under EU sanctions in July this year. A few months earlier, similar restrictions were imposed on him by the United States and Great Britain.