Russia’s largest bank, Sberbank, will remove itself from European operations due to Western sanctions issued on state-controlled companies following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
“In the current environment, Sberbank has decided to withdraw from the European market,” it said Wednesday.
The lender, which had US$14.4bn of European assets at the end of 2020, according to Aljazeera, said it cannot continue supplying liquidity to its European subsidiaries due to a central bank order.
Though it insisted its assets and capital level will cover what’s needed to pay depositors.
This comes following the European Central Bank’s order on Tuesday for Sberbank to shut its European arm, as it faced collapse due to a drawback in deposits amid war concerns.
This is the latest sanction ordered by Western countries to try and damage Russia’s financial system of mainly state-owned companies.