The largest Russian bank makes its way out of Europe after sanctions, that were imposed on the Russian financial system, turned out to be critical.
With the European Central Bank deciding to cut ties with major Russian companies and urging EU countries to do the same, several institutions and investors in the region are pulling out of the European market.
Based on the report by Reuters, the largest bank in Russia by assets Sberbank halted all operations in Europe after pressure from the ECB. It urged the Russian bank to close its European subsidiary as there was a large influx of withdrawals that might have put Sberbank’s branch on the verge of bankruptcy.
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More than that, even though Sberbank assured that all depositors will be paid in full, the Central Bank of Russia has ordered it not to provide foreign currency liquidity to its subsidiaries in the west so that foreign currencies are kept within the country.
Elvira Nabiullina, who is the Governor of Russia’s Central Bank, spoke on Sberbank’s withdrawal from the EU market, stating:
"The group's subsidiary banks have faced abnormal cash outflows and threats to the safety of its employees and branches."
On the crypto side of things, Sberbank has been trying to dabble into the digital asset industry by launching its first ETF that tracks large crypto exchanges like Coinbase. However, according to statistics, Sberbank’s ETF stock SBBE had no reports of historical data ever since Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
This could signify that the bank pulled the plug on the project due to sanctions from the EU, or the stock exchange did not receive information on SBBE amidst the conflict.
Sberbank’s ETF was advertised as a simple platform for investors who wouldn’t need to be directly involved and learn about blockchain technologies, crypto fluctuations, etc. The ETF offered its investors stocks called SBBE for as low as $0.013.
