Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc agreed to sell its Russian banking assets to Expobank LLC for an undisclosed amount as it joins an increasing number of foreign financial firms leaving the country. Expobank will probably take over RBS’s subsidiary in the second quarter of 2016, pending regulatory approval, it said in an e-mailed statement on Monday. The RBS business had 28 billion rubles ($420 million) in assets as of Nov. 1. Companies including Deutsche Bank AG and BNP Paribas SA are cutting back Russian investments amid the country’s first recession since 2009. RBS, which acquired the business as part of its purchase of ABN Amro in 2007, just before the financial crisis forced it into a bailout, has been selling assets, eliminating jobs and shrinking its geographical reach to focus on consumer lending in the U.K. Expobank ranked as Russia’s 93rd largest lender before the acquisition of RBS assets, according to the banki.ru website. A group of investors including Igor Kim bought the lender from Barclays Plc in 2011, with Kim later consolidating control.
Source: Bloomberg.comExpobank to Buy RBS’s Russian Assets as Foreign Banks Retreat
Industry: Banking 2015-11-30
