Raiffeisenbank International (RBI) has reduced its share in the Russian payment market by 50% from the peak values of 2022, returning the volume of transfers to the levels before the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine, RBC business portal reported citing RBI's presentation of preliminary financial results for 2023.

As covered in detail by bne IntelliNews, RBI came under heavy regulatory pressure to come up with an exit plan from Russia, the country where it made 60% of its net profit in 2022.

RBI has scaled down its Russian business and was reportedly considering the sale of the business as a whole, or the splitting off of the Russian business into a separate entity, as well as a controversial swap of its loans for those of Russia’s Sberbank that are trapped in Europe by sanctions.

But most recent reports suggested that in reality RBI is delaying plans to leave Russia, hoping that the full-scale military invasion of Ukraine will end before the bank will have to cave in to sanctions pressure and scrap its presence in the country.

“Russian authorities made it clear to RBI that they wish it to stay because it enables international payments,” sources told Reuters back in July 2023.

RBC also notes that there is no new information in RBI’s latest presentation about how far Raiffeisenbank has progressed on exiting Russia.

In February 2023, Russia's Raiffeisenbank accounted for 40-50% of all payments between Russia and the rest of the world, the Financial Times previously wrote, citing a top manager at the bank.

The bank also introduced a 50% commission for US dollar transfers from other banks and restricting outgoing payments in euros to some countries. In January 2024, Raiffeisenbank again raised the maximum fees for currency transfers to other banks more than threefold, to $1,000 and €1,m000.

In 2022, the Russian subsidiary accounted for 54% of RBI's total profit (€3.8bn), becoming the most profitable territorial bank of the Austrian group. In 2023, Raiffeisen stopped receiving record revenues from business in Russia, especially commissions from transactions and currency exchange operations.

According to RBI's presentation, Raiffeisenbank's net fee and commission income fell from quarter to quarter throughout last year, from €496mn in 1Q23, to €186mn in 4Q23. At the end of the fourth quarter, this revenue item had fallen 3.8-fold year on year.

For 2023 as a whole, Raiffeisenbank's net fee and commission income totalled €1.15bn, down 42.6% on the record 2022 result. Nevertheless, they are still well above 2021 levels: at that time, the 12-month figure was estimated at €420mn.

The Russian Raiffeisenbank's net profit for 2023 fell by 34.8% to €1.34bn. Before the full-scale invasion of Ukraine, in 2021, the financial result was €474mn.