FRANKFURT, April 10 (Reuters) – Russian bank VTB can no longer exercise control over its European subsidiary due to new sanctions, BaFin, the German financial market regulator, said on Sunday.
The European Union formally adopted on Friday a new salvo of sanctions against Russia, including the ban on imports as well as the ban on carrying out transactions with four Russian banks including VTB.
BaFin explains that due to the sanctions, the management of the Frankfurt-based VTB subsidiary is no longer authorized to take instructions from its parent company and its parent company can no longer access financial assets and resources economics of its European subsidiary.
These measures lead to a complete confinement of VTB Bank (Europe) vis-à-vis its parent company.
VTB did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
VTB was one of the Russian banking establishments excluded from the Swift interbank system, preventing it from transferring money.
But the new sanctions deprive it of any transaction.
BaFin also indicated that savers, having deposits with the European branch of VTB, would still have access to their funds. (Report Tom Sims, French version Matthieu Protard)