European banks, which continue to work in Russia, paid 800 million euros in taxes in the country last year, which is four times more than before Russia’s repeated invasion of Ukraine, writes “Financial Times”.
The seven largest European banks in Russia by assets – “Raiffeisen Bank International” (it paid 464 million euros in taxes), “UniCredit”, ING, “Commerzbank”, “Deutsche Bank”, “Intesa Sanpaolo” and OTP – report that their total profit In 2023, it will exceed three billion dollars. This is three times more than in 2021.
The taxes paid by banks are approximately 0.4% of all non-energy related revenues in the Russian budget for 2024, the newspaper reports.
“Financial Times” calls it an example of how foreign companies help the Kremlin to maintain financial stability in wartime, despite sanctions imposed by Western countries.
The increase in profits of European banks is partly explained by funds that they cannot take out of the country due to restrictions imposed by Russia, introduced after the start of full-scale hostilities in Ukraine, the newspaper says.
“We can’t do anything with deposits in Russia other than keep them in the central bank. That’s why, as interest rates rose, so did our profits,” the “Financial Times” quoted the head of an unnamed European bank with a branch in Russia.
In addition, the profits of European banks have increased due to sanctions that denied their Russian competitors access to the international payment information transfer system SWIFT. Therefore, Western banks have become more attractive in Russia, writes “Financial Times”.
Photo: Kirill KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP / Scanpix
