A US Big Four bank sells its Russian subsidiary at a loss of $1.1 billion

One of the largest American banks, Citigroup, announced its withdrawal from Russia. Bloomberg writes that the bank will leave the country with significant losses of about $1.1 billion.

"Citi confirms that it has received all necessary internal approvals to implement the planned sale of Citibank JSC [...] to Renaissance Capital (RenCap). The transaction is expected to be signed and closed in the first half of 2026," it says the bank said in a statement.

Until the transaction is finalized, the Russian asset will be reported on the balance sheet as held for sale.

The amount of the loss may change, in particular, due to fluctuations in foreign exchange rates.

Despite the financial losses, the bank expects that its exit from Russia will benefit its core capital by reducing risky assets.

Citigroup joins other Western financial institutions that have withdrawn from the Russian market due to Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine and the US and EU sanctions that followed. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs also received permission to sell its business in Russia.

The American bank had been planning its exit from Russia even before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. After the outbreak of war, Citigroup curtailed its consumer and local commercial banking operations, and stopped almost all institutional banking services. Only operations necessary to fulfill legal and regulatory obligations remained.

• Western companies that delayed their withdrawal from Russia lost tens of billions of euros because of this, as we wrote back in 2023 Financial Times.
• On the other hand, companies that did not delay this decision were even able to make a profit. For example, in April 2022, the French bank Société Générale sold its Russian subsidiary Rosbank for 3.1 billion euros.