EFinally the Austrian Raiffeisenbank International (RBI) is going on the offensive. The pressure from the public and the shareholders, which was built up primarily by Ukraine and most recently also by the European Central Bank, was too strong. The bank may part with its business in Russia.
Now RBI boss Johann Strobl gave in to the pressure and disclosed his plans. At the general meeting at the end of March, he announced that the variants of a sale or a spin-off of the Russian business, which would then be listed in Europe, are being pursued. For a year earlier, he had only spoken in very general terms about examining all strategic options.
This raises the question of who is even willing to buy the strategically valuable business in Russia from the Austrians. And what’s even more important is who gets the approval of Kremlin boss Vladimir Putin in the end?