The bottom line was a consolidated profit of 1.32 billion euros, which was 7.3 percent more than in the same period last year. Russia and Belarus still account for a considerable share of this – without the two countries, the consolidated profit would have fallen by more than half to 604 million euros, the bank announced on Tuesday.
Nevertheless, the RBI has continued to reduce its risk in Russia, the report says. Since the peak in the second quarter of 2022, the bank has reduced its customer loans by almost 60 percent to 5.8 billion euros. In addition, international payments have been significantly restricted and measures have been taken to further reduce customer deposits.
More and more pressure
In recent months, the bank has come under increasing pressure to leave the Russian market, where it has been represented since the 1990s through its subsidiary Raiffeisen Russia. The bank has always stressed that it is working on a sale or spin-off. However, the sanctions make it very difficult to implement an exit.
If the bank were to sell, the RBI would have to find a non-sanctioned buyer and obtain the approval of Russian President Vladimir Putin. An earlier plan by the bank to purchase a share in Strabag, which previously belonged to the Russian oligarch Oleg Deripaska, in order to get funds out of the country and thus reduce its exposure to Russia was thwarted in May by excessive sanctions risks. In Belarus, the bank has been working on a sale of its subsidiary Priorbank for several months. Negotiations are underway with the Emirati company Soven 1 Holding Limited.