© Reuters. FILE PHOTO: The Unicredit logo shown in this illustration was taken, May 3, 2022. REUTERS / Dado Ruvic / Illustration
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(Reuters) – UniCredit SpA and Citigroup (NYSE:) is exploring asset swaps with Russian financial institutions as Western banks try to avoid being heavily tied up when they leave Russia, the Financial Times said on Sunday.
UniCredit has received several offers from Russian financial institutions to buy its local subsidiary since its chief executive, Andrea Orcel, said in March that it was considering withdrawing from country, the newspaper reported, citing unnamed people familiar with the matter.
Citigroup is the most internationally diversified of the major US-based banks. It provides trade finance to corporations and wealth management to billionaires around the world.
UniCredit received an offer from the Interros group, the investment business owned by Vladimir Potanin, one of Russia’s richest men and a financier not yet registered by the United States, Great Britain or the European Union. sanctions, but the Italian bank rejected that offer, the FT said.
Citi declined to comment. UniCredit and Interros did not immediately respond to Reuters’ request for comment.
In March, UniCredit detailed its exposure to Russia, marking a worst-case loss of 7.4 billion euros. It has confirmed a cash dividend and a share buyback plan, leaving the company subject to a critical capital threshold.
Citi CEO Jane Fraser said last year the bank would divest its consumer business in Russia along with dozens of other consumer businesses in Asia and EMEA markets that she said were too small to keep. Citi has since found buyers for many of those businesses.
