BNP Paribas stops new business in Russia, joins European peers

[PARIS] BNP Paribas is stopping all new business in Russia, joining European peers in winding down its local operations after the country invaded Ukraine. The Paris-based bank has informed its corporate clients that its local unit will no longer be able to process their transactions from the end of March, the bank said in a statement late on Monday (Mar 21).

BNP Paribas is joining a growing group of lenders that are pulling back from Russia amid wide-ranging sanctions imposed against the country. In the past weeks, Goldman Sachs Group, JPMorgan Chase, Deutsche Bank and Commerzbank have all taken steps to cut business in Russia. BNP Paribas previously announced it would stop providing new financing in the country and postponed its investor day until the summer.

The bank's total gross exposure to Russia amounted to about 1.3 billion euros (S$1.9 billion) at the end of December. It exited the local retail banking market in 2012 and ended its Russian consumer finance activities in 2020. Earlier this month, the lender confirmed the payment of a 3.67 euro cash dividend for 2021.

Raiffeisen Bank International, the most exposed European lender to Russia and Ukraine, has halted the payment of its dividend as it assesses the impact of the sanctions. French rival Societe Generale, which also has a larger exposure to Russia, has said it is seeking to reduce its risk in the country while remaining "flexible" on its local unit Rosbank. Credit Agricole said it paused the financing of new projects in Russia. BLOOMBERG