Czech anti-terrorist center to check activities of Raiffeisenbank
Czech Television reported this, Ukrinform saw.
The complaint against the bank was filed by the Association of Citizens' and Entrepreneurs' Rights, which suspects the financial institution of supporting terrorism and financing aggression as it remained in the Russian market and pays taxes there.
The Austrian banking group Raiffeisenbank International is the largest European bank still operating in Russia.
The bank's Russian representative office reported a nine percent increase in profits in the first half of 2023. Libor Maleček, the initiator of the complaint, draws attention to this.
How is it possible that we suddenly find in the accounting documents that they give hundreds of millions to terrorism, to support the military machine? Maleček said.
In addition, a group of the bank's clients in the Czech Republic launched a petition for the bank's withdrawal from Russia.
The idea of paying with the same payment card as, figuratively speaking, a supplier of military equipment for the Russian army is unbearable for us, the author of the petition, Ladislav Pelcl, a client of the bank, said.
The Austrian banking group Raiffeisen Bank International says it is set to further reduce its business activity in Russia but is delaying it in every way possible. In early August, RBI CEO Johann Strobl said that he believes it is possible to separate its subsidiary bank in Russia from the parent group no earlier than the end of December, although earlier it was said to be the end of September. In addition, Strobl said that RBI is still considering the option of selling its Russian subsidiary.
Earlier, Kyiv added Raiffeisen Bank to the list of international sponsors of war. The European Central Bank also insists on its withdrawal from Russia, and the group's activities are being investigated by the U.S. Office of Foreign Assets Control.
Raiffeisen Bank is included in the list of systemically important banks in the list of the Russian central bank. Last year, it earned a profit of about EUR 3.8 billion, of which 2 billion were in Russia.
