Nordea Group announces departure from Russia, plans to liquidate its Russian bank
MOSCOW. Dec 18 (Interfax) - Nordea Group is closing its business in Russia and will concentrate its activity in the Nordic region, Nordea Bank Russia said in statement on its website.
"In accordance with the Nordea Group's strategy, the business focus is on core customers from the Nordic region. Consequently, Nordea has decided to reduce its network of international branches, incl. closure and liquidation of Nordea Bank Russia," the statement said.
Nordea Bank will ensure fulfillment of all obligations to clients and provide comfortable conditions for closure of client accounts. "During the liquidation process, Nordea Bank Russia will strictly comply with all requirements of the Russian legislation," it said.
Nordea Bank was 95th in the Interfax-100 ranking in Q3 with assets of 53.2 billion rubles.
Nordea entered the Russian market in 2006 when it bought Orgresbank, later renamed to Nordea Bank, increasing its capital approximately fourfold.
In 2014, the bank was in the top 30 major credit organizations in Russia; however, in 2015 it started to reduce its business, ceasing to provide retail loans in favor of developing the corporate investment block.
A number of foreign banks have left Russia or significantly reduced their presence in recent years, including Barclays, RBS, HSBC, Deutsche Bank, and Morgan Stanley . One of the main reasons is the decrease in revenue from investment business due to sanctions imposed by the European Union and the United States in 2014.
