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British banking group HSBC has reached an agreement with Expobank to sell its Russian business and exit the country.
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“Following a strategic review, HSBC has signed an agreement to sell 100% of its participating interests in HSBC Bank (RR) LLC to Expobank JSC,” the London-based bank was quoted by Bloomberg as saying.
The deal is subject to regulatory approvals in Russia, HSBC said without disclosing the financial details of the transaction, which will see it exit the country.
If the deal goes through, HSBC will become the latest international bank to exit Russia after it launched a military operation against Ukraine in late February this year.
In April, French banking group Societe Generale reached an agreement with Russia’s Interros Capital to sell its lending and insurance assets in the country.
The news comes as Moscow prepares to block foreign banks from exiting the county as long as its banks cannot operate normally abroad.
Earlier this week, Russian Deputy Finance Minister Alexei Moiseyev stated that no foreign banks in Russia will be allowed to sell their assets until the situation improves and if requests are received, they will be rejected.
Separately, the Central Bank of Russia said it is yet to receive a request for the purchase of HSBC’s local arm and any such deal is not under consideration, Interfax reported.
“An application on the acquisition of HSBC’s Russian business has not been submitted to the Bank of Russia. Thus, the Bank of Russia is not currently studying the possibility of concluding such a transaction,” the central bank’s statement read.
