Austria’s Financial Market Authority (FMA) today imposed a temporary moratorium on Sberbank Europe AG, part of Russia’s Sberbank, until 1 March, 2022.
The regulator said:
This measure was necessary as the European Central Bank (ECB), under whose direct supervision the bank stands, has notified the SRB that Sberbank Europe AG is in serious financial difficulties, and there is the probable threat of the failure or likely failure of the bank.
The FMA has taken this action following sanctions imposed by Western countries against big Russian banks. As part of the sanctions, some of Russia’s banks have been banned from using the Swift international payment system.
Sberbank Europe issued a statement on the current situation:
In the light of the latest geopolitical developments, several banks of Sberbank Europe Group registered significant outflow of client deposits within a very short time. In some subsidiary banks, this resulted in long waiting times in branches and partially in restricting the amount of daily cash withdrawals.
Sonja Sarközi, CEO of Sberbank Europe, said:
In order to protect its customers and the bank’s critical functions, Sberbank Europe has been and is in close contact with the competent regulatory authorities. We are making every effort to support the authorities to apply their powers to resolve this unprecedented situation in the interest of our customers.
During the moratorium imposed by FMA, the bank may not make any disbursements, transfers or other transactions. The regulator explained that depositors have access to a maximum of €100 per day. Deposits of up to €100,000 continue to be covered by the Austrian deposit guarantee system, the FMA added.
