‘No worries’ for European banks with Ukraine units
“The amounts involved are very moderate,” Ms Nouy, said in an interview with BFM Business television.
Ms Nouy, who headed the French banking regulator for a decade, was appointed in December to lead the new Frankfurt-based watchdog charged with overseeing the eurozone’s 130 largest lenders.
Global stock indices fell and the ruble dropped to an all-time low as Russia’s threat to invade Ukraine prompted an emerging-market sell-off.
Raiffeisen Bank International, which is seeking to sell its Ukrainian unit, and Societe Generale, the foreign bank with the largest branch network in Russia, led declines among European banks as tensions between Ukraine and Russia escalated.
“The amounts are very reasonable,” Ms Nouy said, asked specifically about Societe Generale’s exposure to Russia. “There is no reason to be particularly worried.”
Societe Generale agreed to increase its controlling stake in Moscow-based OAO Rosbank last year by buying VTB Group’s 10% stake.
Societe Generale’s international retail-banking business at the end of 2013 had €13.5bn of loans and €8.5bn of deposits in Russia.
Raiffeisen, based in Vienna, is the biggest foreign bank in Ukraine with 43.5bn hryvnia (€3.26bn) in assets at its local unit, Raiffeisen Bank Aval.
That makes it the fifth-largest lender in the country, according to Ukraine central bank data at the end of 2013.
Investors around the world took fright yesterday at how the crisis may escalate.
In Russia, Moscow’s RTS stock index slid 12%, while the dollar spiked to an all-time high of 37 rubles.
Elsewhere in Europe, the FTSE 100 index of leading British shares closed down 1.5% at 6,708.35, while the CAC-40 in France fell 2.7% to 4,290.87.
The retreat on Germany’s DAX was even greater, largely because the country is so reliant on Russian gas, with the index ending 3.4% lower at 9,358.89.
CONNECT WITH US TODAY
Be the first to know the latest news and updates
