OREANDA-NEWS  The management of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International discussed the possibility of "barter" with Sberbank: to exchange dividends from Russian business for Sberbank Europe assets frozen in Europe, the Austrian edition Falter reported. The Austrian bank said that this is still only "theoretical reasoning" and any steps will be coordinated with the authorities. RBI shares fell by more than 7%.

The management of the Austrian Raiffeisen Bank International discussed a possible asset exchange scheme with Sberbank in order to receive the amount of revenue that RBI earned in Russia in 2022 and cannot withdraw due to restrictions of the Russian authorities. This was written by the Austrian publication Falter with reference to a "confidential" document from the RBI board meeting.

According to Falter, the management of Raiffeisen Bank International discussed the idea of transferring the dividends owed to it from its Russian business to Sberbank in exchange for the assets of its European "daughter", Sberbank Europe, which was registered in Austria. According to Falter, dividends mean the entire net profit of Raiffeisenbank in Russia in 2022 — it amounted to €2 billion. Sberbank can receive either this money or the entire "daughter" of Raiffeisen Bank International in Belarus — Priorbank, whose total balance is also about € 2 billion, Falter writes. "Sberbank of Russia receives the right to claim dividends and/or subordinated loans from RBI or, alternatively, Raiffeisen Bank Belarus," Falter quoted a document from the board meeting.