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American banking giant Citi is in talks with multiple local buyers over the sale of its operations in Russia, the Financial Times has reported.

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Unnamed sources told the publication that the American bank is holding discussions with private Russian entities including Expobank and Reso- Garantia, an insurer, for the sale of its retail and commercial banking business.

French banking group Société Générale’s former Russian arm Rosbank has also shown interest in buying Citi’s units.

A deal with Rosbank is unlikely because last week the UK imposed sanctions on Vladimir Potanin, who is the new owner of Rosbank.

Potanin’s interest in buying Citi’s units comes after he said that he does not plan to buy more banks following the acquisition of a stake in TCS Group, which owns digital bank Tinkoff.

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The US banking group is winding down its corporate banking business as it works with its clients to help them exit Russia.

Following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, the US-led alliance imposed severe sanctions on Russia making it extremely difficult for foreign firms to operate there.

If a deal materialises, Citi will be the latest foreign banking group to exit the country.

According to the sources, Citi plans to retain its Russian licence and will maintain a limited presence in the country but a final decision on that is yet to be made.

Citi’s retail arm in Russia is a top-20 lender with $13.5bn in assets. The plans to sell it were announced way before the war began.

The news of talks between Citi and Expobank was first reported by a local finance news site Frank RG.