Austria's Raiffeisen Bank International still providing services to Russian war suppliers, new investigation finds

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Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) maintains client relationships with companies supplying the Russian defence sector, revealing previously unknown dimensions of the bank’s involvement in Russia’s war of aggression on Ukraine.

Bloomberg’s investigation shows that Raiffeisen’s Russian subsidiary earned more than $600,000 last year from providing payment and foreign exchange services to companies producing materials for Russian arms manufacturers. One such company, Russian chemical manufacturer Unichim, received payments into a Raiffeisen account after supplying acids for use in missile systems to a sanctioned company with close ties to the Russian navy.

Raiffeisen Bank International has repeatedly stated that it seeks to exit Russia and that its Russian unit has “implemented monitoring and screening tools to comply with… all applicable sanctions”. Bloomberg’s findings, however, underscore that the operational risks for companies still doing business in Russia have become nearly impossible to avoid. After reporting a drop in its annual profits for the first time in nine years following a US$ 2bn asset grab by a Russian court, RBI may now also find itself facing compliance-related risks over its client relationships in Russia.

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30 civil society organizations from Ukraine and abroad had previously raised a similar warning in an open letter to RBI’s CEO Johann Strobl in May 2023, cautioning that “Russia has made it next to impossible for foreign businesses to operate in the country without becoming directly complicit in Russia's war efforts”. The open letter did not receive a response.

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