President Vladimir Putin has authorized the sale of Citibank’s Russian subsidiary to local investment firm Renaissance Capital, according to a decree published on Wednesday. This decision effectively marks the completion of the American banking group Citigroup’s withdrawal from Russia.
The Kremlin’s decree allows Renaissance Capital to acquire 100% of Citibank Russia’s shares from the parent company, Citigroup Netherlands B.V., without any other regulatory approvals.
Citigroup first announced plans to sell its retail businesses in Russia in 2021, but decided to completely shut down operations after Russia’s large-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022.
Since then, Citibank has significantly reduced its local activity, ceased issuing debit cards, closed the last retail branch in Moscow, and ended all remaining operations this month.