The Exclusion from the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany has no impact on VTB Bank (Europe) SE.

04.07.2022

The Management Board of VTB Bank (Europe) SE (VTBE) does not recognise any effects of the decision taken at the General Meeting of the Association of Foreign Banks in Germany (VAB) to exclude VTBE from the Association. VTBE had already been suspended as a member of the association at the beginning of March. “This decision was unnecessary because control of VTBE has long since been completely revoked from the Russian parent company. VTBE is currently dealing solely with the proper wind-down of its customer relationships under German supervision and with a newly formed supervisory board,” says CEO Frank Hellwig, the special representative at VTBE appointed by the Federal Financial Supervisory Authority (BaFin). “The VAB’s decision has no impact on our current situation, which remains stable.”

In the context of the discussion about international sanctions in the financial sector, the German Bundesbank had already explicitly stated on April 9 that payments to VTBE are permissible unless it would be apparent to the payer in advance that they are to be forwarded to the Russian parent company or another listed person in violation of the sanctions. “Together with the Bundesbank, we have long since been able to establish extensive mechanisms that reliably prevent precisely this,” says CEO Hellwig, “and our business partners and correspondent banks have overcome the initially understandable uncertainty due to feared sanctions long ago and have returned to normal business transactions with VTBE.”

Furthermore, the decision of the VAB has no impact on the extensive protection of VTBE’s and VTB Direktbank’s customers via the German deposit guarantee scheme, which will remain in full force to the current extent.