We are contacting the European Association of Co-operative Banks (EACB) to raise a formal complaint about the activities of Raiffeisen Group International (Austria) (RBI), a member of the EACB via the Professional Association of Raiffeisen Banks (Fachverband der Raiffeisenbanken), the organisation which represents the interests of the entire Raiffeisen banking group.

Through its membership with EACB, RBI has committed to the EABC’s key values, including solidarity, self-help and social and environmental concerns...

However, in its systematic support for the regime in Belarus, RBI has been undermining co-operative values and its own policies. For over a year, RBI has been consistently supporting the regime of Mr Lukashenko, which has been described as “illegitimate, illegal and criminal” an EU Parliament Resolution...

BankTrack and other human rights groups have reached out to RBI numerous times calling for the bank to condemn the human rights violations in Belarus, carefully review its policies towards the country and its state-owned entities, and suspend the provision of any funding until new presidential elections are held under the supervision of international observers. However we have had no response whatsoever from the bank to these legitimate concerns...