Sanctions announced by the United States and the United Kingdom on Russian banks will reach Portugal. The state-owned VTB Group is a partner in the capital of Bango Finance, which was strengthened in 2019. For now, European sanctions are unknown, but the bank guarantees ExpressIf they happen the same way, they will mainly affect the dividend distribution.
On Thursday, February 24, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced sanctions, including freezing the assets of Russian banks, including VTB, Russia’s second largest bank, and its chairman, Denis Portnikov. The Associated Press reports that this is one of the banks subject to US sanctions, which was confirmed by Joe Biden this afternoon. These results are in response to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
Based in Russia, the VTB group is present in many countries, such as the United Kingdom, but also in Germany and Switzerland and other geographical areas such as Hong Kong and Angola. Site Officer. In Portugal, the VTB Group held a 12.2% stake in Finandia’s capital at the end of 2020. Recent Report and Bank Accounts (Report for 2021 not yet).
This level has been strengthened in recent years as it was 9.7% in 2018 – at that time, VTB Capital PE Investment Holding (Cyprus) Ltd. was offered a stake.
The VTB Group achieved the highest results in 2021 in terms of turnover, profit and performance, as announced this week.
In addition, the VTB is affiliated with Russian names or names on the Strategic Council of Finandia, an advisory board whose members have not been scrutinized by Banco de Portugal (as in the cases of the Board of Directors and the Audit Committee): they are Igor Sauvorov, Alexei Mitrofanov and Ricardo Orcel. The first two are Russian citizens who have been associated with the finance committee for many years, and the third is a Spanish citizen with outstanding performance in the VTB.
According to information gathered at this time, and by ExpressThe Portuguese bank has not been notified of EU sanctions affecting its Russian partner or citizens who are part of its strategic council.
Bank sources say that if this happens, there will be consequences for the final distribution of dividends related to the 2021 results – accounts not yet closed or audited. There are also transactions with related parties, but in this case the statement and accounts do not specify, for example, whether there are deposits from this particular shareholder. Also, there will be issues if you want to reverse this position.
It sends the same evidence that if there are restrictions on Russian citizens in that organization, the names that make up the Strategic Council may be dropped.
Finantipar, owned by António Guerreiro (former head of the bank, who left management – after the Bank of Portugal’s administrative offense – and chairman of the Strategic Council)), is Finantia’s largest shareholder. Instead of being a retail company, it focuses on financial consulting and operations consulting.
In addition to Portugal, Banco Finantia has a presence with branches or offices in Spain, the United Kingdom, the United States, the Netherlands and Malta.
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