Relatively low exposure to Russia.
(Photo: dpa)
Frankfurt Like its big German competition, Commerzbank is now reducing its new business in Russia. “We have stopped new business in Russia, we are only still processing existing transactions,” said a spokeswoman for the money house late Friday evening.
Shortly beforehand, Deutsche Bank announced – after heavy criticism from a US investor – that it would shut down its business in Russia because of the war in Ukraine. Deutsche Bank has substantially reduced its commitment and presence in Russia since 2014, the money house announced on Friday evening.
“Like some of our international competitors, we are in the process of ramping down our remaining business in accordance with legal and regulatory requirements.” At the same time, the financial institution is helping its existing non-Russian international clients to scale back their business operations in the country. “We no longer do new business in Russia,” the bank added.
Against the background of the Ukraine war, Deutsche Bank was criticized for remaining in Russia. The American investor Bill Browder, who has been working to uncover corruption in Russia for years, told the Reuters news agency that Deutsche Bank’s remaining in Russia is at odds with the international business community and will lead to backlash, damage to reputation and business strains in the West.
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U-turn by Deutsche Bank in its Russian business
Thus, the largest German financial house made a U-turn in terms of Russia. On Thursday, Deutsche Bank boss Christian Sewing wrote in a message to all employees at the institute: “We are often asked why we are not withdrawing completely from Russia. The answer is that this would contradict our self-image.” The bank has customers who cannot say goodbye to Russia overnight. “And we will support them as much as possible during this difficult phase.”
In the middle of the week, the bank had quantified its Russia risks for the first time and recently described its commitment in Russia as very limited. The institute has the risks under control, CFO James von Moltke said on Thursday. The money house put the gross credit exposure in relation to Russia at 1.4 billion euros. According to a presentation by the bank, there are also additional risks amounting to 1.5 billion euros, which are largely covered by export guarantees. The bank estimates net credit exposure related to Ukraine at EUR 42 million.
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