Unlock the Editor’s Digest for free
Roula Khalaf, Editor of the FT, selects her favourite stories in this weekly newsletter.
Vladimir Putin has approved the sale of Citigroup’s Russian business, as the US bank continues to wind down its exposure to the country in the wake of its war in Ukraine.
In a statement on 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 sum.
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.
The announcement brings the Wall Street bank closer to a full exit from Russia. Citi first announced plans to exit the country’s retail market in April 2021 as part of a wider retreat from consumer banking outside the US by chief executive Jane Fraser.
The bank then tried to sell its Russian business but faced a limited pool of buyers due to western sanctions imposed on the country as a result of Putin’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
Citi said in August 2022 that it would wind down its retail and commercial banking operations in Russia after Putin banned foreign entities from “unfriendly” countries that imposed sanctions on Moscow over the war from selling their stakes in Russian companies, which further complicated the process.
Since then, Citi has closed nearly all of its institutional banking services in Russia and in 2024 closed its last retail branch in Russia and deactivated 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 lender ING also announced its exit.