International Investment Bank to relocate from Hungary to Russia after being hit by sanctions

MOSCOW. April 19 (Interfax) - International Investment Bank (IIB) will move its headquarters from Hungary back to Russia after being hit by U.S. blocking sanctions, the IIB said in a statement.

The IIB head office was moved from Moscow to Budapest in 2019.

"Due to the de-facto termination of Hungary's membership in International Investment Bank, IIB has exhausted basis for further operations from its headquarters in Budapest and in the European Union. The Bank has commenced a relocation of its operations and functions of its headquarters from Hungary to Russia," the bank said.

The U.S. imposed sanctions against the bank on April 12. The SND list now includes IIB head Nikolai Kosov, as well as the deputy chairpersons of the bank's executive board, Georgy Potapov and Imre Laszloczki, respectively. IIB Capital, the bank's Russian subsidiary, was also sanctioned.

IIB said on Wednesday that Hungary had formally notified it that it was pulling out as a shareholder from October 19.

Until now, the members of the bank have been were Russia, Hungary, Bulgaria, Vietnam, Cuba, Mongolia and Romania. Hungary said it was ending its involvement in the bank's work following the U.S. sanctions. Romania is pulling out from June 9 and Bulgaria from August 15. The Czech Republic and Slovakia have already left.

IIB is a supranational interstate financial organization founded in 1970 by member countries of the Council for Mutual Economic Assistance. The main area of IIB's activity is lending to investment projects.