MOSCOW (Reuters) -HSBC has completed the sale of its Russian unit to Expobank for an undisclosed fee, the Russian lender said on Wednesday, ending around two years of negotiations and uncertainty.
HSBC’s exit from Russia has been on the cards since February, when Russian President Vladimir Putin gave approval for the asset sale to privately owned Expobank to go ahead.
A spokesperson for HSBC confirmed it had transferred ownership of the business to the Russian lender.
HSBC first announced in June 2022 that it had agreed to sell a 100% stake in the unit, HSBC Bank (RR) LLC, to Expobank
A 2022 decree bans investors from “unfriendly” countries – those that have imposed sanctions on Russia over its actions in Ukraine – from selling shares in key energy projects and banks without explicit presidential approval.
Expobank said in a statement that the unit would continue to operate, but under a new, unspecified name.
European banks have been under growing pressure from Washington and the European Central Bank to extricate themselves from Russia. Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International is the largest European lender doing business in Russia, followed by Italy’s UniCredit.
Another large Italian lender, Intesa Sanpaolo is working to dispose of its Russian business. It received Putin’s approval to exit in September 2023, but the deal has been held up by “bureaucratic steps”, its CEO said in February.
(Reporting by Reuters; writing by Maxim Rodionov and Alexander Marrow; editing by Jason Neely and Sharon Singleton)
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