Sberbank decides to leave Ukraine
Russian Sberbank has announced its intention to abandon its Ukrainian subsidiaries.
“We are looking for ways to withdraw from Ukraine. With such a position from the government, we do not have much time. I would not like to comment on anything, until we reach a final decision,” said Herman Gref, head of Sberbank.
As reported by Rambler News Service, Gref called the sanctions against Sberbank in Ukraine “illegal actions”.
“The situation in Ukraine is quite complicated. Emotionally complicated and really complicated. The combination of the absolutely illegal actions which are committed against us in Ukraine, and a number of cities with the complete connivance of the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Sberbank is the largest of the banks with Russian capital in Ukraine, and one of the largest in general. Its assets amount to almost 50 billion hryvnia ($1.86 billion USD). The only banks larger than Sberbank are the state Privatbank, Oschadbank, Ukreximbank, Ukrgasbank, and also Raiffeisen Bank Aval which belongs to Austrians nationals.
The Lviv VS Bank (previously Volksbank) also belongs to Russian Sberbank, taking the 29th place with respect to total assets.
Ekaterina Rozhkova, deputy head of the NBU (National Bank of Ukraine), said previously that all Ukrainian banks belonging to Russia had been put on sale.
On March 16, Ukraine introduced sanctions lasting for 1 year affecting Sberbank, VS Bank, Prominvestbank, VTB Bank, and BM Bank on account of them belonging to Russia. The sanctions restrict the withdrawal of capital from Ukraine of the banks on the sanctions list.