UniCredit in court limbo over ECB's Russia demands, sources say
UniCredit is seeking to have ECB demands annulled
Filed an appeal in June, citing potential breach of Russian laws
Court tussle comes as UniCredit seeks to raise stake in Commerzbank
By Stefania Spezzati
LONDON, Oct 16 (Reuters) -UniCredit CRDI.MI is still awaiting a court decision over whether it must immediately reduce its Russia business to comply with a European Central Bank order, months after filing an objection, people familiar with the situation told Reuters.
The near four-month wait for a decision increases pressure on the lender to show it is complying with the ECB's requests, whose deadlines have already passed.
The ECB, the lender's chief supervisor, instructed UniCredit at the end of April to scale down its business in Russia including imposing a ban on new deposits and restrictions on handling payments.
In June, the Milan-based bank asked the European Union General Court to annul the demands, which Chief Executive Officer Andrea Orcel has said could breach Russian laws.
UniCredit has also sought to have the measure suspended while the court proceeding is pending, and in July said that a decision on a suspension was expected "in the coming months."
Representatives for UniCredit, ECB and the European court declined to comment for this article.
UniCredit has said it "will continue to act on its commitment to significantly reduce its presence in Russia" and in July reiterated its 2025 targets to scale down its business there.
According to a summary of the court case which has not been previously reported, UniCredit asked the judge to annul all of the ECB's demands or, alternatively, the orders regarding loans, deposits and payments.
The ECB prohibited UniCredit from granting new loans or rolling over existing loans and imposed a ban on taking new term deposits from June 1, according to the court filings.
UniCredit is also contesting the ECB request to impose restrictions on payments with Russian clients in certain foreign currencies as of Sept. 1, with the exception of "whitelisted" clients.
Reuters could not establish which white list the ECB is referring to and whether UniCredit has complied with the ECB requests.
UniCredit said in a presentation to investors at the end of July that the bank aimed to reduce cross-border payments to below 8.5 billion euros ($9.3 billion) and local deposits below 2 billion by 2025.
RUSSIA TIES
The legal battle with the regulator comes as UniCredit is seeking the ECB's approval to increase its stake in Germany's Commerzbank CBKG.DE.
While the ECB has talked favourably about bank mergers in Europe, the Italian bank is facing hurdles in Germany, Reuters reported.
The ECB assesses purchases of bank stakes based on a handful of criteria such as the financial strength of the buyer and the reputation of the proposed acquirer, including court proceedings.
The regulator will also scrutinize whether the purchase increases risk of money laundering and financing terrorism, as expected under the ECB's guidelines.
UniCredit's ties to Russia date back to International Moscow Bank, the first Russian lender to raise funds from foreign banking institutions.
Following changes in ownership, it was renamed AO UniCredit Bank and in 2015 was included in the list of systemically important banks by the Bank of Russia.
When Russia invaded Ukraine in 2022, UniCredit remained in Russia, being one of two European banks - along with Austria's Raiffeisen - to maintain large operations in the country.
($1 = 0.9190 euros)
Reporting by Stefania Spezzati; additional reporting by Valentina Za, Alexandra Schwarz-Goerlich, John O'Donnell and Alexander Marrow. Editing by Elisa Martinuzzi and Emelia Sithole-Matarise
免责声明: XM Group仅提供在线交易平台的执行服务和访问权限，并允许个人查看和/或使用网站或网站所提供的内容，但无意进行任何更改或扩展，也不会更改或扩展其服务和访问权限。所有访问和使用权限，将受下列条款与条例约束：(i) 条款与条例；(ii) 风险提示；以及(iii) 完整免责声明。请注意，网站所提供的所有讯息，仅限一般资讯用途。此外，XM所有在线交易平台的内容并不构成，也不能被用于任何未经授权的金融市场交易邀约和/或邀请。金融市场交易对于您的投资资本含有重大风险。
所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。
本网站上由XM和第三方供应商所提供的所有内容，包括意见、新闻、研究、分析、价格、其他资讯和第三方网站链接，皆保持不变，并作为一般市场评论所提供，而非投资性建议。所有在线交易平台所发布的资料，仅适用于教育/资讯类用途，不包含也不应被视为适用于金融、投资税或交易相关咨询和建议，或是交易价格纪录，或是任何金融商品或非应邀途径的金融相关优惠的交易邀约或邀请。请确保您已阅读并完全理解，XM非独立投资研究提示和风险提示相关资讯，更多详情请点击 这里。
