Russian bank VTB failed to "take root" in Africa due to sanctions
Sanctioned Russian banks can expand only in Iran
Russia's VTB (Vneshtorgbank) will be forced to sell its subsidiary bank in Angola due to difficulties related to sanctions restrictions.
Source. This was announced in an interview with Les Echos by the bank's chairman Andrei Kostin, moscowtimes.eu reports.
"It is difficult for a bank under sanctions to expand its business geography, with the exception of Iran," he admitted. Our branch in Angola has been affected by the sanctions, and we will most likely have to sell it."
According to Kostin, in 2022, VTB failed to open a single new office in foreign countries, and sanctions and disconnection from the SWIFT system locked Russia's second-largest state-owned bank out of operations within the ruble zone.
"We have lost our bank in Germany. Despite the fact that it still bears the VTB name, it is out of our control," said the VTB CEO.
According to him, attempts to agree with the European Central Bank on an asset swap so that VTB could withdraw frozen funds from foreign investors have failed.
VTB was one of the first banks to be hit by Western sanctions imposed over the invasion of Ukraine. On February 28, it was included in the "blacklist" of the US Treasury Department, and in early March, it was disconnected from SWIFT.
Background. As a reminder, Russia's Tinkoff Bank has canceled a Eurobond payment due to EU sanctions.
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