"Austria refuses to act on Raiffeisen’s alleged sanctions violations", 25 August 2025

Austria’s central bank will not take enforcement action against Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) over allegations that a Russian subsidiary breached EU sanctions, documents published by the Austrian Ministry of Finance in August have confirmed.

In a letter addressed to the President of Austria and responding to a parliamentary inquiry, Finance Minister Dr. Markus Marterbauer publicly confirmed that the Austrian National Bank (OeNB), the authority responsible for sanctions enforcement in Austria, had “investigated” the investment activities of Raiffeisen Management Company (formerly Raiffeisen Capital), a Russia-domiciled asset manager owned by RBI’s Russian subsidiary bank, and concluded that there was “no further need for action” against RBI...

RBI’s Russian operations, which turned a higher profit than all other Western banks in Russia put together in 2024, came under renewed public scrutiny in March following an investigation by BankTrack and B4Ukraine. The investigation revealed that RBI’s Russian asset manager had purchased bonds issued by Russia’s Ministry of Finance in late 2024, placing its parent company at risk of breaching EU sanctions-related prohibitions on Russian sovereign debt. RBI has since repeatedly declined to provide detailed information on Raiffeisen Management Company’s activities to journalists, and all financial filings have been removed from the subsidiary’s website...