Because the Russian bank Sberbank withdraws from Europe
Sberbank, the largest state bank in Russia, has withdrawn from Europe: due to international sanctions and the bank run, it is no longer able to guarantee liquidity. All the details
Sberbank, Russia's largest state-owned bank, today announced its withdrawal from almost all European markets. He motivated this with the large outflows of money recorded in recent days, after the West imposed harsh sanctions on Moscow for the invasion of Ukraine and many account holders showed up at the counters to withdraw cash.
Seven Russian banks are suspended from the Swift payment system. Confirmation of the rumors filed yesterday comes from the list published by the EU Official Gazette . These are Bank Otkritie, Novicombank, Promsvyazbank, Bank Rossiya, Sovcombank, VNEsheconombank (VEB), VTB Bank. Neither Gazprombank nor Sberbank appear on the list, through which the transactions for payments for energy imports of the member states 'pass'. “Today's decision, the note reads, was coordinated with the EU's international partners and with Great Britain”.
WHAT HAPPENS NOW
The Single Resolution Board, the European agency that monitors the health of credit institutions in the Banking Union, explained that the headquarters of Sberbank Europe (it is the name of the European subsidiary of Sberbank), in Austria, will be liquidated according to the local insolvency proceedings.
The ownership of the subsidiaries in Croatia and Slovenia, on the other hand, will be transferred to other banks: specifically, NLB will acquire operations in Slovakian territory, and HPB (owned by the government) will do the same in Croatian territory, Bloomberg reports.
HOW DO THE ACTIONS GO
On the Russian stock exchange, given the economic crisis, trading is closed; on the London Stock Exchange, however, Sberbank shares lost 90 percent of their value.
THE ECB'S JUDGMENT
Sberbank's withdrawal from Europe probably surprised no one. On the contrary, it was a somewhat expected move: the European Central Bank had in fact judged the institution on the verge of bankruptcy due to the numerous withdrawals of cash at ATMs after the start of the war in Ukraine.
THE SITUATION IN EUROPE
Sberbank Europe was also active in Germany, Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia.
In Austria, the financial market regulator announced a ban on Sberbank from continuing to operate. In doing so, he activated the compensation mechanism for the bank's customers, which protects account holders up to a maximum sum of € 100,000 each.
In a statement, the European Commission announced that the authorities of the Czech Republic have ordered the sale of the activities of Sberbank Europe in the country: currents will have access to the same protections provided in Austria. Regulators in Hungary also liquidated the bank's local division.
The only exception, compared to the rest of Europe, is Switzerland: here Sberbank will continue to operate normally.
Last November Sberbank said it wanted to proceed with the sale of its operations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Hungary, Serbia and Slovenia, through an operation worth 500 million euros.
WHAT SBERBANK SAID
Sberbank has made it known that it is no longer able to guarantee liquidity to its European subsidiaries after the order issued by the Russian Central Bank to preserve foreign currency: its reserves abroad have in fact been blocked as a result of the sanctions, which also include the partial exclusion of Russia from the SWIFT network for international payments.
However, Sberbank specified that it had sufficient resources to pay account holders.
The value of Sberbank's European assets amounted to around 13 billion euros.
WHAT THE RUSSIAN CENTRAL BANK SAID
The governor of the Russian central bank, Elvira Nabiullina, acknowledged that the country's economic situation is serious, promising to do everything possible to ensure the stability of the national financial system.
THE NUMBERS OF SBERBANK
In 2021, Sberbank reported a net profit of $ 12.3 billion, up 64 percent year-on-year.
Chief Executive German Gref – who has not made any statements since the invasion of Ukraine – had spoken of "exceptional" results.
This is a machine translation from Italian language of a post published on Start Magazine at the URL https://www.startmag.it/economia/sberbank-ritiro-europa/ on Wed, 02 Mar 2022 14:58:09 +0000.