Recent Russian sanctions targeted at domestic banks, oligarchs, and companies following the country's invasion of Ukraine have created issues for Citigroup as the global bank has announced that it had $10 billion in Russian exposure come to the end of 2021.
Citigroup states that it is truly a global bank and has a domestic presence within Russia and Ukraine. A significant portion of Citigroup's exposure comes from a consumer bank that the organization has been trying to sell off, however, will unlikely be able to do so.
The organization’s Russian exposure includes “$2.2 billion in corporate loans and $700 million in consumer loans, it said in a filing Monday. It also holds $1.5 billion in investment securities.” In addition to this, Citigroup has $1.6 billion in Russian entities, $1 billion in cash at financial institutions including the Russian Central Bank, as well as $1.8 billion in reverse repurchase agreements.
Since the Annexation of Crimea back in 2014, financial institutions have been hesitant to invest further into Russia with Citigroup doing the same. Since 2014 Citigroup has halved its exposure throughout Russia, however, did not completely pull out of the country.
While Citigroup’s $10 billion in Russian exposure is concerning for the organization, it is only a small portion of their $2.29 trillion total assets around the globe.
Source: Wall Street Journal
