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SEB Bank Says Not Viable to Maintain Operations in Russia

SEB Bank Says Not Viable to Maintain Operations in Russia

Swedish lender SEB AB says it is not viable to maintain operations in Russia under current conditions.

“SEB has therefore started scaling these down,” spokesman Niklas Magnusson said in emailed comments. “This will be done in a responsible and orderly manner and in accordance with regulatory and legal obligations.” 

The Stockholm-based lender joins a growing list of European banks that are reconsidering their presence in Russia, winding down operations or planning an outright pullback. On Thursday, Raiffeisen Bank International AG said it was weighing an exit from the country, one of its most profitable markets.

Sweden’s biggest lender by market value said it has 80 employees in Russia spread across two offices in St. Petersburg and Moscow, serving Nordic, German and British companies with operations in the country. The outflow of companies from Russia reduces their need of banking services, according to the lender.

“The bank has a very limited direct exposure to Russia,” Magnusson said, with about 0.3% of its balance sheet exposed to the country.

In 2021, SEB’s assets in Russia totaled about 6.7 billion kronor ($705 million), down from 7.9 billion kronor the previous financial year, according to annual reports. While that’s not large compared to other European lenders, the asset tally represents the only meaningful exposure among Sweden’s biggest banks.

“This should not be regarded as a temporary suspension, it is a scale down of our operations, a process that will take some time,” Frank Hojem, head of corporate communications at SEB, said in a subsequent email.

©2022 Bloomberg L.P.