VTB received permission to remove $900 million in sanctioned assets from its balance sheet.

VTB will transfer $900 million in blocked assets to a separate legal entity by the end of the year, announced the bank's first deputy chairman, Pyanov. The deal should support the group's profits. VTB still has ₽93 billion left to reach its annual target.

VTB has received permission from the Central Bank of Russia to conduct a second special reorganization, which will allow the bank to remove assets and, correspondingly, liabilities frozen due to sanctions, worth $900 million, or approximately 70 billion rubles, from its balance sheet. VTB First Deputy Chairman Dmitry Pianov announced this to journalists.

"At the end of November, around the 20th (and we recorded this as an event after the reporting date, since the application was submitted in October), we received a decision from the Bank of Russia's Banking Supervision Committee approving the list and volume of assets and liabilities for the spinoff of the second legal entity under Federal Law 292 into a special purpose vehicle. Accordingly, the total volume of approved assets is almost $900 million. I'm citing the dollar equivalent because these are all foreign currency-denominated assets and liabilities, all foreign. Given the volatile exchange rate, this amounts to approximately 70 billion rubles, but they can be recalculated daily at the exchange rate, and the ruble amount will fluctuate accordingly. This approval has been received," said Pianov.

According to him, the process of separating these assets into a separate legal entity will be completed by the end of the year, likely on December 12. This will be the second special reorganization carried out by VTB.

How does it happen?

Federal Law 292-FZ , adopted in 2022, allows credit institutions subject to blocking sanctions from the US , EU, and other countries to transfer assets frozen due to restrictions, along with liabilities in the form of obligations to foreign creditors, to a separate legal entity. The value of the transferred assets and liabilities must be equal, so that debts to creditors from unfriendly countries are settled solely from the assets of the new company, i.e., the frozen ones. The list of assets and liabilities available for such reorganization is determined by the Bank of Russia.

VTB managed to write off some of its sanctioned assets and liabilities from its balance sheet for the first time at the end of 2024. The amount was significantly lower than planned—98 billion rubles instead of 180 billion rubles. This was due to the Bank of Russia's tightening requirements for such transactions. However, in 2025, the approach was changed again, and the state-owned bank decided to conduct a similar balance sheet cleanup again.

The first reorganization generated 21 billion rubles in net profit under IFRS for VTB and partially helped the group meet last year's financial result target. According to Pyanov, the second reorganization should result in a profit impact of "several tens of billions of rubles." This could also contribute to the state-owned bank's improved results by the end of 2025.

According to its IFRS report, VTB Group earned 26.4 billion rubles in October, down 11.1% year-on-year. For the first ten months of 2025, net profit reached 407.2 billion rubles, close to last year's figures. VTB's target for this year is approximately 500 billion rubles. In October, Pyanov confirmed the bank's intention to achieve its financial performance target.

The second reorganization will likely be VTB's last—VTB has no plans to conduct similar transactions in 2026, Pyanov told Interfax. According to the top manager, going forward, the bank will focus on generating revenue from sanctioned assets through various legal strategies. In a call with reporters, Pyanov clarified that the volume of such frozen assets is comparable to the bank's claims against JP Morgan entities. There are at least four of them—one for €108.6 million and three for a total of $595.3 million.