Unlock Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, editor-in-chief of the FT, selects her favorite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of Citigroup’s Russian operations, as the US bank continues to reduce its exposure to the country following the war in Ukraine.
In a statement Wednesday, Putin’s office said it had approved the sale of Citi’s Russian subsidiary to Moscow-based investment bank Renaissance Capital for an undisclosed amount.
Citi confirmed the potential sale but did not name Renaissance as the buyer, adding that it would be subject to additional approvals. Renaissance confirmed the sale to the Financial Times, without providing further details.
This announcement brings the Wall Street bank closer to a total exit from Russia. Citi first announced plans to withdraw from the country’s retail market in April 2021 as part of a broader withdrawal from consumer banking outside the United States by Chief Executive Jane Fraser.
The bank then attempted to sell its Russian operations, but faced a limited pool of buyers due to Western sanctions imposed on the country following Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Citi said in August 2022 that it would end its retail and commercial banking operations in Russia after Putin banned foreign entities from “hostile” countries that have imposed sanctions on Moscow over the war from selling their stakes in Russian companies, further complicating the process.
Since then, Citi has closed almost all of its institutional banking services in Russia and in 2024 closed its last retail branch in Russia and disabled all of its debit cards.
This year, the Kremlin approved the sale of Goldman Sachs’ Russian subsidiary to an Armenian investment fund, shortly after Dutch bank ING also announced its exit.
