UniCredit Group has reportedly sold the assets of its leasing company in the country as part of its exit strategy<\/p>\n
Italy\u2019s UniCredit Group, one of the last major Western banks still operating in Russia, has begun scaling back its business, Kommersant reported Tuesday, citing sources familiar with the matter.
\nOperating in Russia since 1989, UniCredit is listed by the central bank as among the country\u2019s 13 key credit institutions. Alongside a few other banks from EU nations, the lender has maintained a presence in the Russian market amid international pressure following the 2022 escalation of the Ukraine conflict.
\nApart from the Italian bank, those who have not left include Austria\u2019s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI), the Netherlands\u2019 ING, Hungary\u2019s OTP Bank, Italy\u2019s Intesa SanPaolo, and Sweden\u2019s SEB.
\nNearly the entire long-term portfolio of UniCredit\u2019s leasing subsidiary in country, valued at around $32 \u202fmillion under contracts, has reportedly been sold to the Russian company PR\u2011Leasing.<\/p>\n
Read more<\/p>\n
EU lender challenges order to leave Russia<\/p>\n
\u201cEuropean banks are trying to maintain their business in Russia, but they are increasingly having to scale it back,\u201d TopContact CEO Artur Shamilov told Kommersant, commenting on the report.
\nUniCredit\u2019s chairman, Kirill Zhukov\u2011Emelyanov, who worked at the group for more than two decades and led the Russian unit for the past five years, has departed, along with two other top executives, a source at the bank said.
\n\u201cThe simultaneous departure of key top managers and the sale of a major asset is a clear sign the bank is preparing for a full withdrawal from the country,\u201d according to Oleg Abelev, head of analytics at Rikom\u2011Trust.
\nEuropean shareholders are reportedly pressing the group to shrink its Russian operations to roughly the scale of Intesa, the other Italian bank still operating in the market.
\nIn the third quarter of 2025, Intesa\u2019s Russian subsidiary reportedly reduced its assets by 17.7% to about $1.84 \u202fbillion, making it 50th by assets and 23rd by capital (around $704\u202f million). By contrast, UniCredit Bank is ranked 20th by assets, and fell 8.5% for the quarter to roughly $9.5\u202fbillion, as well as 12th by capital, at about $4.39\u202fbillion.
\nLast year, the European Central Bank (ECB) ordered EU banks with Russian subsidiaries to accelerate the wind-down of their operations in Russia, banning new loans and deposits, cutting existing portfolios, and restricting foreign-currency payments to enforce a managed exit.
\nUniCredit has since sought legal clarification from the EU General Court on the scope and enforceability of these obligations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
UniCredit Group has reportedly sold the assets of its leasing company in the country as part of its exit strategy Italy\u2019s UniCredit Group, one of the last major Western banks…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":24040,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":[],"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[4,6,3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-24039","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-economy","category-environment","category-politics"],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t