Russia’s biggest bank, Sberbank, is leaving almost the entire European market amid sanctions the country faces after invading Ukraine. The state-owned company blames large cash outflows and threats to its employees and properties.
The announcement was predictable after the European Central Bank ordered, on Tuesday (1st), the closing of the European arm of Sberbank.
“By order of the European Central Bank, the Austrian Financial Market Authority issued a decision today prohibiting the licensed credit institution ‘Sberbank Europe AG’ (…) from continuing its business operations in full, with immediate effect,” the financial authority said. of Austria, whose capital is home to the European Sberbank.
The news came on Wednesday (2), the same day that the Russian state-owned company reported record annual profits.
In 2021, the bank’s net profit grew by 64% compared to 2020, to 1.25 trillion rubles (R$77.6 billion). The bank canceled a meeting with investors to talk about the results and its chief executive, German Gref, said that the focus would now be “the new challenges that the Russian economy and the financial sector are facing”.
The bank had European assets worth 13 billion euros (R$ 75.1 billion) as of the end of 2020, and operations in countries such as Austria, Croatia, Germany, Hungary, among others.
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