Raiffeisen Bank International

Formerly a subsidiary of Raiffeisen Zentralbank, Raiffeisen Bank International operates a banking network mainly in Central and Eastern Europe, although also maintains operations in Western Europe. Seventeen markets are covered by subsidiary banks, leasing companies, and representative offices. At the end of 2010, RBI served over 14 million customers with about 3,000 branch offices. At the end of February 2010, RZB CEO Walter Rothensteiner announced that a possible merger of RZB with Raiffeisen International Bank-Holding AG (RI) was being considered. The move would provide broader access to the capital, money, and bond markets. Since the changes would take place within the group, it would have no impact on their equity capital ratios. The newly-founded Raiffeisen Bank International would contain RI and those segments of RZB which do not involve the Raiffeisen sector. Business related to RZB's function as the central institution of the Raiffeisen Banking Group and participation relevant to this sector would remain at RZB. On 19 April 2010, the executive boards of the two institutions resolved to present the proposed merger to the shareholders for approval. At the general shareholders' meeting on 7 July 2010, RZB's shareholders voted to merge the bank's commercial customer business with RI. The following day, RI shareholders approved the merger at a general shareholders' meeting. The new institution, Raiffeisen Bank International, began its activities on 11 October 2010.

In 2013, Raiffeisen Bank International opened its Hong Kong branch.[4] Two years later, its Xiamen branch and Harbin office closed.[5] In 2016, Raiffeisen Banka d.d. of Slovenia (which was renamed KBS Banka and merged with another bank to become Nova KBM)[6] was sold to Apollo Global Management and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.[7]

On 18 March 2017, Raiffeisen Bank International merged with Raiffeisen Zentralbank Österreich;[8] the merger was approved at a January 2017 extraordinary general meeting of RBI's shareholders.[9] The bank suspended the initial public offering of its subsidiary, Raiffeisen Bank Polska, in mid-2017.[10][11][12]

In January 2023, U.S. Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control became interested in Raiffeisen's Russian business. Raiffeisen is one of the few large international banks that did not wind down its business after Russia's invasion of Ukraine. The Russian division of Raiffeisen has the status of a systemically important bank, ranks second in terms of net profit and provides more than half of the group's net profit (2 out of 3.8 billion euros). OFAC sent a request to the bank to "clarify" the bank's business activity in Russia in the light of recent events. Raiffeisen promised to answer questions in several stages during April-June 2023.[13]

In March 2023, Raiffeisen was named an international sponsor of war by Ukraine's National Agency on Corruption Prevention.[14]

As of 23.04, Raiffeisen Bank hasn’t left the Russian market.[15] Under pressure from the Ukrainian government and its ally countries, the Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) has changed its rhetoric. However, no specific roadmap for possible selling of its subsidiary or spin-off is outlined.[16] This could indicate a lack of consensus between stakeholders of the RBI and a desire to postpone further actions in the hope of conflict conciliation.

Western banks struggle to leave Russia. According to the Financial Times, banks such as JSC Raiffeisenbank, JSC UniCredit Bank, JSC Commercial Bank Citibank, and others are still operating in Russia.[17] The majority of banks stopped further investments in their Russian subsidiary. However, it is worth mentioning that Societe Generale was able to leave Russia and sell its assets to Rosbank. The estimated loss for the bank was 3.3 billion euros.[18]

As for RBI, its assets in Russia account for approximately eighteen billion euros with the employment of 10560 staff members.

As of 30.03, the RBI has released a statement outlining its further policy towards its Russian branch.[19] The statement could respond to pressure from the European Central Bank to develop a specific plan to reduce the business in Russia, according to Reuters.[20]

The RBI group pleads to continue transactions that would result in the deconsolidation of its Russian branch according to the company’s policy and four internal principles: “(1) the RBI Group’s governance and compliance, (2) the financial and non-financial value for the RBI Group, (3) the management of spill-over effects to the RBI Group’s network (4) and the ability to execute any process in an orderly manner”. In other words, the spin-off would be possible if the key stakeholders agreed on potential financial and non-financial losses and risks in case of a positive spin-off decision. It is also worth mentioning that RB Russia is the largest western bank in the country.

In the statement released on 30.03, RBI pointed out the reduced amount of loans and ringfenced the RBI’s capital. In the same statement, it was stressed that in case of spin-off, “the RBI Group’s CET1 ratio will remain robust”.

On the 7th of April, according to a publication in the Russian media[21]}, the Russian branch of RBI stopped issuing new cards with the package “salary”. The official bank’s comment was that this decision was based on “the market analysis”. However, this could also be a result of the change in rhetoric and statement about reduction of services made earlier.

The next day, the National Bank of Ukraine released a statement commenting on the RBI press release. The NBU pointed out that they see a positive shift in the rhetoric, however, they also acknowledge the lack of a specific plan that will further reduce RBI operations and presence in Russia and lead to the spin-off. On the other hand, the NBU pointed out the systematic contribution of RBI’s subsidiary in Ukraine - Raiffeisen Bank Aval JSC, to the country's financial stability during the raging war.

According to Reuters, one of the senior Raiffeisen executives said that they are negotiating a selling deal for the Russian branch with two potential buyers. However, the spin-off itself could take up to seven months.

• Asia:
  • China
  • India
  • Singapore
  • South Korea
  • Vietnam
  • Japan (in cooperation with Mizuho Bank)

• Americas
  • United States[22]

• Europe
  • Bulgaria (exited in 2022)

In June 2020, Raiffeisen Bank International arranged Belarusian government bonds worth over €1.4 billion. By then, opposition Belarusian presidential candidates, demonstrators, and journalists had been arrested by the regime of Alexander Lukashenko amid mass protests. Pavel Latushko of the opposition Coordination Council accused RBI of supporting the dictatorship of Lukashenko, calling on RBI subsidiary Priorbank to end its business relationships with Belarusian state banks and to sell the government bonds. RBI rejected Latushko's charge that the bank economically supported human-rights violations in Belarus.[23]

In November 2021, Belgium-based KBC Bank and Raiffeisen Bank International reached an agreement for KBC to acquire 100% of the shares of Raiffeisenbank (Bulgaria) EAD, comprising RBI’s Bulgarian banking operations.[24] In March 2022, Bulgaria's competition regulator said that it gave the green light to KBC Bank, a unit of financial group KBC, to acquire 100% direct interest in Raiffeisenbank Bulgaria and indirect control of the target company's wholly-owned units Raiffeisen Leasing Bulgaria, Raiffeisen Asset Management (Bulgaria), Raiffeisen Insurance Broker, and Raiffeisen Service.[25] The transaction was completed on 7th of July 2022 and marked the exit of Raiffeisen from the Bulgarian market.[26]

In August 2021, Crédit Agricole S.A. announced the signing of an agreement to sell Crédit Agricole Srbija A.D. to Raiffeisen banka A.D., Serbia, a fully-owned subsidiary of Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International AG.[27] In accordance with the prior consent of the National Bank of Serbia, Raiffeisen banka a.d Beograd has become the sole owner of Credit Agricole banka Srbija a.d. Novi Sad on April 1, 2022, taking over from Credit Agricole s.a. Paris as the former owner. As a result of the transaction, Credit Agricole bankа Srbija has become a member of the Raiffeisen group. The joint share of the two banks in the Serbian market will be around 12%.[28] After the merger with Crédit Agricole bank, the loan portfolio of Raiffeisen banka is expected to reach almost € 3 billion and the client base to exceed one million. The merger of Raiffeisen banka a.d. Beograd and Crédit Agricole Srbija A.D. Novi Sad is expected to be completed by the end of the second quarter of 2023.[29]

• Crédit Agricole S.A., French counterpart of French co-operative banks
• ICCREA Banca S.p.A., Italian counterpart of Italian co-operative banks
• Banque Raiffeisen, Luxembourgish counterpart of co-operative banks
• Rabobank, Dutch counterpart of co-operative banks

• Official website
• Vienna Stock Exchange: Market Data Raiffeisen Bank International AG