Less than 2% of VTB Bank (PJSC)'s assets fall onto companies sanctioned by the U.S. in April and its management is assessing the sanctions' impact on relations with some of the affected firms, Vedomosti reported May 17, citing VTB's first-quarter IFRS financial report.
The lender added that this risk assessment is preliminary and that the final impact of the sanctions is not yet clear. As of April 1, VTB's assets amounted to 13.1 trillion Russian rubles, with up to 262 billion rubles falling onto the sanctions-affected companies, the newspaper noted. Vedomosti also said PAO Sberbank of Russia's exposure to companies affected by the April measures is below 2.5% of its assets, or the equivalent of about 585 billion rubles.
Vedomosti also reported May 16 that VTB Bank CEO Andrey Kostin had confirmed the lender's plans to merge its insurance business with JSC SOGAZ. The newspaper had said at the end of April, citing market sources, that the companies had reached an agreement regarding the merger, although there were some unresolved issues that required further discussions.
As of May 17, US$1 was equivalent to 61.90 Russian rubles.
