VTB Bank, the second largest bank in that country, announced on Wednesday that in 2022 it made a loss of seven billion euros, which is a consequence of the “unprecedented” sanctions due to Russia’s offensive in Ukraine.
The bank emphasized its exclusion from the international payment system Swift.
Dmitri Pyanov, CFO, stated that in 2022 the VTB Group faced unprecedented difficulties and challenges. They became the first target of the maximum possible sanctions, which led to huge losses.
VTB stated that it lost 612.6 billion rubles, or about seven billion euros at the current exchange rate, after 2021, when it made a net profit of 327.4 billion rubles.
International sanctions directed against the Russian banking sector hit the VTB group with full force, in which the Russian state is the main shareholder and which is particularly present in foreign markets.
In March 2022, a few days after the beginning of the Russian military intervention in Ukraine, the European Union excluded VTB from the international payment system Swift.
The head of the bank, Andrej Kostin, who has been in that position since 2002, is under individual sanctions from Great Britain and the USA.
Damage caused by restrictions
The bank stated that in 2022, the VTB group became the first among the largest Russian banking institutions to be hit by the strictest restrictive measures.
The group’s main difficulties are unprecedented losses when extracting liquidity in foreign currency, losses related to the closure of branches, including VTB Bank Europe on the European market, and raising interest rates by the Russian central bank.
Extremely difficult conditions forced the bank to make quick and clear decisions, Dmitry Pyanov added today.
The group announced the purchase of Otkritije Bank in December 2022. In 2020, VTB stated that it has 15 million clients in Russia and employs 80,000 people.
