Raiffeisen Bank International says it won’t leave Russia without compensation

Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) says it’s unwilling to divest from Russia without compensation. In a conference call on Wednesday to discuss the bank’s third-quarter performance, CEO Johann Strobl fielded at least four questions about the company’s Raiffeisenbank subsidiary. He stressed that RBI prioritizes its “accelerated downsizing” in Russia but rejects a “zero scenario” where it abandons its Russian assets for nothing.

Strobl declined to offer a concrete timeline for exiting the Russian market.

Raiffeisen Bank International is one of the largest remaining Western banks still operating in Russia. The company announced plans to divest from the country in the first weeks after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, and the European Central Bank has pushed RBI to develop an exit plan. While Raiffeisenbank has cut several major services for clients in Russia, RBI ran into legal trouble in early September when a court in Kaliningrad ordered interim measures against the Austrian construction group Strabag SE and several other companies, barring RBI from doing any business with these entities. Spokespeople said the Kaliningrad ruling would “inevitably lead to further delays” in Raiffeisenbank’s sale.