Russia's central bank warns Western banks not to discriminate against Russian clients
Adds background, quotes in paragraphs 6-12
By Gleb Bryanski
MOSCOW, Sept 13 (Reuters) -Russia's central bank has warned subsidiaries of Western banks that remain in Russia not to yield to pressure from Western regulators and discriminate against their Russian clients by denying them services, such as money transfers abroad.
Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International's (RBI) RBIV.VI and Italy's UniCredit CRDI.MI are the biggest foreign banks still present in Russia even as Western regulators, including the European Central Bank, pressure them to pull out. Both are on the central bank's list of systemically important banks. Hungary's OTP also has operations in Russia.
A Russian court froze RBI's shares in its local arm earlier this month, blocking the biggest Western bank in Russia from leaving. The Austrian bank stopped transferring money abroad for Russian clients from Sept. 1.
"We are seeing pressure," central bank governor Elvira Nabiullina said at a briefing following a policy meeting.
"The subsidiaries of European and other foreign banks in Russia were established according to Russian law. Complying with the requirements of the ECB and adhering to the sanctions of foreign states contradicts the Russian laws and discriminates against their clients," she said.
Nabiullina said the Russian regulator has issued directives to the subsidiaries of Western banks in Russia, prohibiting them from refusing to process foreign currency transfers or creating technical obstacles for such transfers.
Nabiullina accused the subsidiaries of Western banks of "segregation" among their Russian clients, providing services to some while arbitrarily denying them to others.
She said the regulator has also banned the subsidiaries from providing their head offices with information about Russian clients that could be used to discriminate against them.
"The only exception is information without which the payment cannot be processed," she said.
Nabiullina said the central bank will review the list of systemically important banks this autumn, but declined to say whether Raiffeisen and UniCredit will be removed from the list, which now comprises 13 banks, including sanctioned lenders Sberbank and VTB.
The designation implies greater state support in case of crisis.
The subsidiaries of Western banks in Russia made a windfall on commissions for international transfers after their Russian rivals lost access to the international SWIFT payment system. They also service Western corporations that remain in Russia.
Nabiullina's statements signal more problems for Western banks trapped since the start of the war in Ukraine between Russian and Western regulators and unable to leave Russia.
RBI has increasingly frustrated U.S. and European officials, who have pressured it to scale back its Russian business since the 2022 invasion of Ukraine.
Reporting by Gleb Bryanski; Editing by Mark Trevelyan and Tomasz Janowski
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
