Austria's RBI sells Belarus bank at a loss to UAE investor
Adds detail, background from paragraph 4
By Rachel More and John O'Donnell
BERLIN, Sept 20 (Reuters) -Raiffeisen Bank International RBIV.VI said on Friday it is selling its Belarus business at a loss to an investor from the United Arab Emirates, as the Austrian lender faces mounting pressure to also pare back its Russian arm.
RBI has vowed to spin off its Russian business, which has provided a payment lifeline to hundreds of companies there, after pressure from international regulators on the biggest Western bank in remaining in the country.
But more than two years since Russia invaded Ukraine, little has changed. RBI's move in Belarus indicates willingness to sever ties to countries in Moscow's sphere of influence.
RBI said the deal would trigger a loss of around 300 million euros ($335 million). That indicates it sold the local bank for roughly that amount - half of its 600 million euros in equity.
The bank in Belarus had around 2 billion euros of deposits and more than 1600 staff.
A spokesperson for RBI said the ultimate beneficiary of the buyer, Soven 1 Holding, is UAE-based Suhail Al Otaiba. The sale is set to be wrapped up by the end of this year.
RBI has been a critical financial lifeline for millions of Russian customers who want to send euros or dollars abroad, although it has recently curtailed such services.
Western regulators want to dismantle this bridge between Moscow and the West and the European Central Bank is demanding Raiffeisen pare back its Russia business.
Although Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI also has a business in Russia and is under pressure to leave, RBI is far larger and has become a test of Western resolve to cut ties with Russia.
Russian authorities have made it clear to RBI, which has around 2,600 corporate customers, 4 million local account holders, billions of deposits and more than 10,000 staff, that they wish it to stay because of its role in international payments, one source has told Reuters.
With sprawling industrial holdings, more than 18 million customers from Vienna to Moscow and 44,000 staff, RBI is a financial linchpin for Austria and much of eastern Europe.
Russia has become an even bigger money spinner for the bank since the Ukraine war started in 2022, accounting for about half of the group's profits in the first three months of this year as fees on payments abroad spiked.
($1 = 0.8958 euros)
Reporting by Rachel More and John O'Donnell; Editing by Miranda Murray and Alexander Smith
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