After a year of trying, Intesa Sanpaolo can finally sell its assets in Russia. The Russian president Vladimir Putin he has in fact signed a decree allowing the bank led by Carlo Messina to sell or transfer 100% of its assets in and around Moscow. The news was revealed by Bloomberg and confirmed by Russian state media who published the text of the provision which gives the green light to "transactions directly or indirectly involving the establishment, modification, termination of ownership rights, use and/or disposal of 100% of the shares".
Intesa Sanpaolo away from Russia
Intesa has been operating in Moscow for over 20 years. Last March 16, the bank led by Carlo Messina made it known that it had 28 branches and 980 employees in the country, with loans to Russian customers equal to approximately 1% of the total customer loans of the Intesa Sanpaolo group.
Shortly after the start of the war the bank - like many other companies - announced its intention to abandon the market and has since reduced his exposure by more than 75%, of the over 2,7 billion euros in June 2022, bringing it to just 0,2% of total loans to customers.
The definitive exit from Russia However, it was made more complicated on the one hand by Western sanctions affecting potential buyers of the banks, and on the other by Putin himself who decided to tighten the exit requirements in order to stop the diaspora caused by the war.
Now finally therethe situation would have been resolved and the Russian president would have given the green light to the exit of Intesa Sanpaolo through an ordinance which, according to some observers, could represent a change of direction for the Kremlin, paving the way for other financial institutions determined to abandon Russia.
