The Russian state bank is closing its only subsidiary in Africa

Banco VTB Africa SA is not the first “subsidiary” of VTB abroad whose business was threatened by sanctions.

The Russian state bank VTB, which came under the sanctions of Western countries and was disconnected from the SWIFT system , is closing its only subsidiary in Africa. This was reported by Russian media with reference to the head of the bank Andrii Kostin.

According to him, Banco VTB Africa SA in Angola, opened in 2007, has decided to submit a license to carry out banking operations.

“We are closing it, revoking the license. This is a voluntary and forced surrender of the license – we have everything frozen there,” said the banker.

He noted that he met with Angolan President Juan Lorenzo to decide the fate of the bank, whose second largest shareholder is the Angolan diamond mining corporation Endiama. However, it was not possible to agree on the future of Banco VTB Africa, which was conceived as a clearing house for Russian business operating in Africa:

“I met with the president. We are closing the bank. We have already filed.”

We would like to add that Banco VTB Africa SA is not the first “subsidiary” of VTB abroad whose business was threatened by sanctions. Thus, immediately after the introduction of restrictions in 2022, the group lost control over VTB Capital in Great Britain and VTB Bank (Europe) SE in Germany.

(C)UNIAN 2024