Latest news with #Raiffeisen
Reuters
05-08-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Russian court lifts temporary freeze of Raiffeisen shares in Russian unit
MOSCOW, Aug 5 (Reuters) - A Russian court has lifted interim measures that effectively banned Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International ( opens new tab from selling its Russian subsidiary, a lawyer for the bank and the Russian unit, Raiffeisenbank, told Reuters on Tuesday. The court's decision could bring RBI closer to finding a way to exit Russia, which the bank says it has been working on for more than three years since Russia launched the conflict in Ukraine. But finding a suitable, non-sanctioned buyer remains a challenge and banks face extra regulatory hurdles, including needing the personal approval for any deal from President Vladimir Putin. RBI did not immediately respond to a request for comment. A Russian court had in June rejected RBI's bid to lift the injunction, the result of a lawsuit brought by Russian investment firm Rasperia after a collapsed deal in which RBI was ordered last year to pay around 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in damages. The bank's dispute with Rasperia followed the failure of a deal that RBI hoped would allow it to unlock some of its frozen assets in Russia. RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based construction company Strabag ( opens new tab, but pulled out under pressure from Washington. Anastasia Taradankina, a lawyer for Raiffeisen's Russian subsidiary from Russian law firm Delcredere, confirmed that the court's interim share seizure had been overturned. "We have done everything and the measures were lifted," Taradankina told Reuters. According to court filings, the measures were lifted on August 4. RBI swung to a loss in the second quarter after a 1.2 billion euro ($1.4 billion) write-off over the legal dispute in Russia, it said last week. ($1 = 0.8667 euros)
Business Recorder
11-07-2025
- Business
- Business Recorder
Russian rouble weakens vs US dollar for the first time since July 3
MOSCOW: The Russian rouble weakened against the U.S. dollar on Friday after strengthening during five consecutive sessions, and was also down against China's yuan, Russia's most traded foreign currency. At 1415 GMT, the rouble was 0.5% weaker at 78.95 per U.S. dollar, according to LSEG data based on over-the-counter quotes. The Russian currency is still up by about 45% against the dollar since the start of the year. 'The rouble has remained excessively strong. According to our model, the state of imports, exports, oil prices, and the Finance Ministry's foreign currency purchases cannot justify such strong levels,' Raiffeisen analysts said. They said that the rise of the rouble's share in Russia's foreign trade added to already strong demand for rouble assets, generated by high interest rates in the economy. Against the Chinese yuan, the rouble was down over 1% at 10.94 per yuan on the Moscow Stock Exchange.
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Business
- Reuters
Court rejects RBI challenge of ban on sale of Russian subsidiary
VIENNA, June 18 (Reuters) - Raiffeisen Bank International ( opens new tab said on Wednesday a Russian court had rejected its bid to lift an injunction banning the sale of its local subsidiary, frustrating efforts by the biggest Western bank still operating in Russia to exit the country. The ban is tied to a lawsuit brought by Russian investment firm Rasperia after a collapsed deal in which RBI was ordered last year to pay 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) in damages. RBI said in an emailed statement to Reuters it considered those proceedings completed and that the damages had been collected in full by the Russian central bank. "Nevertheless, the court has made an unprecedented decision to extend them," RBI said. Payment of the fine had previously been seen as a key step in the struggle for Russian regulatory clearance of Raiffeisen's plans to sell its Russian subsidiary. The bank's dispute with Rasperia followed the failure of a deal that RBI hoped would allow it to unlock some of its frozen assets in Russia. RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based construction company Strabag ( opens new tab, but pulled out under pressure from Washington. Anastasia Taradankina, a lawyer for Raiffeisen's Russian subsidiary from Russian law firm Delcredere, said there were no legal grounds to maintain the sale ban. The court's decision on the opening day of Russia's premier economic forum in St. Petersburg may send a bad signal about Russia's investment climate and the legal footing of foreign companies in Russia, Taradankina said. "The court ... showed that even in the absence of financial claims, it is possible to block company assets worth more than half a trillion roubles," Taradankina said. ($1 = 0.8682 euros)
Reuters
18-06-2025
- Politics
- Reuters
Raid of Swiss banking blog sets bad precedent, media group says
ZURICH, June 18 (Reuters) - Press freedom group Reporters Without Borders on Wednesday criticized a raid this month against a prominent Swiss banking blog, saying it set a dangerous precedent for critical journalism in Switzerland. Zurich-based blog Inside Paradeplatz this week said police searched its offices and the home of its founder, confiscating a laptop, a mobile phone and documents in a raid over articles in 2016 about an ex-boss of bank Raiffeisen Switzerland. Prosecutors for the canton of Zurich said the evidence was linked to criminal proceedings into whether the blog violated a provision in banking secrecy laws which the government previously said had never been used to charge journalists. "The banking act has now been used against the media for the first time," Reporters Without Borders Switzerland told Reuters via email. "We see this as a dangerous precedent that further reinforces the already existing chilling effect of the law." The Zurich prosecutors' office said it had acted in accordance with the law and that the legislation's impact on press freedoms was a matter for politicians. An amendment to the Swiss banking act that has been in force since 2015 criminalises disclosure of confidential information passed on by bank employees or other insiders. "Swiss media have to think very carefully about whether and how they report on stories based on leaked bank data - even if, as in this case, there is a clear public interest in publishing," Reporters Without Borders said, noting that journalists risked prison sentences of up to three years. Former Raiffeisen CEO Pierin Vincenz was convicted of fraud in 2022 before a court overturned the ruling last year and referred the case back to prosecutors.
Bloomberg
11-06-2025
- Business
- Bloomberg
European Banks With Russian Units Help Keep Natural Gas Flowing
Western banks including Raiffeisen Bank International AG that still operate units in Russia are helping some of the last European buyers of Russian pipeline gas pay for purchases after the US sanctioned Gazprombank. Turkey and Slovakia are both using the services of Vienna-based Raiffeisen, which runs a unit in Russia, according to people familiar with the matter. Clients broadly are using either the Russian units of Western lenders, or smaller, non-sanctioned Russian banks to pay for gas, said a person familiar with the situation at fuel supplier Gazprom.
