#Raiffeisen’s Russian branch was founded in 1996 and expanded dramatically after the acquisition of #Russia’s Impexbank in 2006. A year later, it was the largest bank trading in foreign capital (seventh in size) in Russia.

2/21

In the early 2000s, #Raiffeisen opened new branches in #Russia, including in Saint Petersburg, Samara, Yekaterinburg, Novosibirsk and Krasnodar. After 2018, it focused on digital expansion and by 2021 it had a digital presence in more than 300 cities.

3/21

RBI’s core values sound good: collaboration, pro-activity, learning and responsibility. But both collaboration and responsibility have a double meaning. By doing intensive business with #Russia, RBI enriches itself at the expense of the people murdered by Russia in #Ukraine.

4/21

#Raiffeisen’s management sees no problem in recognising and doing business with the #Luhansk People’s Republic and the #Donetsk People’s Republic, #terrorist organisations rather than states, as is evident from its own message from January 2023.

5/21

According to the Austrian newspaper “Die Presse”, #Russia’s financial system depends on the presence of the Western bank in Russia. Enabling #Putin’s mafia regime to continue making financial transactions with the West makes #Raiffeisen Bank complicit in #genocide.

6/21

Customer satisfaction in #Russia at #Raiffeisen is high: In 2021, the American Forbes named the bank the “best bank in Russia” and in 2018, Euromoney magazine called the bank “the best bank for private banking services for wealthy clients in Central and Eastern #Europe”.

7/21

After the large-scale #invasion of #Ukraine by #Russia in Feb 2022, many Western companies and banks decided to leave the #Russian market. In general, a mass departure of banks from a country can have devastating consequences for the #economy.

8/21

That is why #Putin has done everything he can to disrupt any departures. Nowadays, all major departures must be signed off by the #Tsar himself. Many Western banks left #Russia as early as 2014, after the annexation of #Crimea.

9/21

But some #European banks, including #Raiffeisen and the Italian #Unicredit, saw an opportunity to make easy money and decided to stay. For Raiffeisen, it has indeed turned out to be a profitable deal to stay in #Russia and continue business as usual: around 60% of its profits…

10/21

…totaling EUR 2 billion, came from #Russia. That this profiteering is ongoing is evident from the fact that in the first 6 months of 2024, AO #Raiffeisen still accounts for 50% of RBI’s total profit, according to Raiffeisen itself.

11/21

The bank has over €4,5 billion in outstanding loans through 121 offices and €30 million in assets in #Russia (status: 2023). But #Raiffeisen’s stay in Russia has had its challenges. Russia began granting deferrals on loans to its #troops fighting in #Ukraine last year.

12/21

#Banks must cancel loans if #soldiers are maimed or killed. Between Sep and Dec 2022 alone, the write-offs were worth €800 million. By providing these loans, both #Raiffeisen and Unicredit are funding #Russia’s brutal #war machine.

13/21