Russia’s Sberbank sells Swiss subsidiary affected by sanctions

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GENEVA (`) – The Swiss Financial Markets Authority said on Friday that Sberbank, one of Russia’s largest banks, is selling its Swiss subsidiary, which has come under pressure from international sanctions against Russian interests over the invasion of Ukraine.

Sberbank (Switzerland) AG, which focuses on commodity trade finance, was already facing liquidity problems after a first round of Western sanctions hit Russian interests earlier this year. Then last month the Swiss executive froze the bank’s assets and banned it from providing funds, resources or technical services after a new round of sanctions.

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FINMA, Switzerland’s market regulator, said in a statement on Friday that it had lifted “safeguards” – mainly to protect customers – for Sberbank so that it can be sold to Groupe M3, a diversified company mainly making equity investments in real estate holds. hospitality and healthcare.

“FINMA is following the transaction closely and has temporarily lifted its protective measures at Sberbank (Switzerland) AG to allow the transaction to proceed,” the statement said. “This is also done with the consent of the authorities responsible for sanctions.”

FINMA said the resized bank will now operate under a new name, TradeXBank.

Groupe M3 confirmed the sale in a statement. The terms of the sale were not disclosed.

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In an interview with Swiss newspaper Le Temps published on Friday, Groupe M3 President Abdallah Chatila said he saw a “good opportunity” when a contact he had in May raised an opportunity to buy Sberbank’s Swiss subsidiary.

Chatila, who made headlines after buying up Nazi memorabilia at auction to keep them out of the hands of neo-Nazis, said authorities including the US Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, which oversees US sanctions, would have given the deal the “green light”. The Treasury declined to comment.

He was quoted as saying that Sberbank Switzerland itself is not the target of sanctions. He said it was generating around 3-4 billion Swiss francs in annual revenue before the sanctions, but Groupe M3 had been forced to hand over 1.5 billion francs worth of assets under management to clients who were reclaiming them as part of the purchase.

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