(MENAFN) According to a report by the Financial Times, the largest European Union-based banks operating in Russia experienced a substantial increase in profits last year, paying four times more in taxes compared to pre-Ukraine conflict levels.
Despite the exodus of several foreign banks from Russia due to Western sanctions since 2022, a significant number of lenders, including those from within the Eurozone, chose to maintain their presence in the country while scaling back operations. However, pressure from the European Central Bank (ECB) has intensified on these remaining banks to withdraw from the Russian market altogether.
Entities such as Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), Italy’s UniCredit, Dutch lender ING, Germany’s Commerzbank and Deutsche Bank, as well as Italy’s Intesa Sanpaolo and Hungary’s OTP collectively reported a combined profit of over EUR3 billion (USD3.2 billion) in Russia last year. This marked a threefold increase from 2021, as highlighted by the Financial Times. Notably, a substantial portion of these profits stemmed from funds that banks were unable to repatriate from the country due to regulatory constraints.
The surge in profits translated into a significant rise in tax payments by European Union banks in Russia, with approximately EUR800 million (USD857 million) contributed in taxes, compared to EUR200 million in 2021. Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) emerged as the leading contributor to these tax payments, reflecting its substantial presence in the Russian market.
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