Russian court freezes Raiffeisen shares in local bank, blocking sale, 6 September 2024

A Russian court froze the shares in Raiffeisen Bank International's local arm, the biggest Western bank in Russia...blocking the sale of the unit and escalating a standoff between Moscow and the West.

Austria-based RBI had vowed to spin off its Russian business, which provides a payment lifeline to hundreds of companies there, after coming under pressure from international regulators...

A spokesperson for Raiffeisen said that the Russian court move ruled out a sale of the bank, although they said it would have no impact on the Russian bank's operations or on the efforts demanded by the European Central Bank to reduce it.

"We can still appoint management and give instructions to the Russians but we cannot sell the bank," the spokesperson said.

RBI will attempt to reverse the court decision, it said in the statement, which is the biggest such freeze involving a Western bank in Russia...

Russian authorities had made it clear to RBI, which has around 2,600 corporate customers, 4 million local account holders and 10,000 staff, that they wish it to stay because it enables international payments, one source has told Reuters...

The freeze is related to a recent claim by Russian investment holding company Rasperia against Strabag and its Austrian shareholders and the Raiffeisen unit, though the lender is not accused of any wrongdoing, the bank said...

RBI had sought to buy a stake in Vienna-based construction group Strabag from a company Strabag identified as being controlled by Oleg Deripaska, who has denied existing links to Strabag and has dismissed Western sanctions against him as misguided and based on false information...

Pressure from Washington prompted Raiffeisen this year to abandon the plan to buy the stake in Strabag, a deal that was aimed at unlocking bank funds now frozen in Russia.