Russia's largest lender Sberbank leaving Europe
Categories: FOREIGN COUNTRIES
"In the current environment, Sberbank has decided to withdraw from the European market," the lender said in a statement carried by Russian news agencies.The bank said its subsidiaries in Europe were facing an “abnormal outflow of funds and a threat to the safety of employees and branches,” according to Russian news agencies. They did not provide details of the threats. The move was the latest consequence of Russia’s invasion last week, which has led to warfare across Ukraine and unprecedented Western sanctions aimed at isolating Russia’s economy.With Moscow having failed in its aim to swiftly overthrow Ukraine's government after nearly a week, Western countries are worried that it is switching to new, far more violent tactics to blast its way into cities it had expected to easily take. Sberbank's Austria-based European arm, Sberbank Europe AG, would be allowed to enter "normal insolvency proceedings", while branches in Croatia and Slovenia were sold to local banks, the European banking supervisory authority said.Sberbank Europe AG also has subsidiaries in Bosnia, the Czech Republic, Hungary and Serbia, which do not come under the jurisdiction of the European Central Bank.