According to the Kyiv School of Economics, 21 international banking institutions continue to operate in Russia, including Raiffeisenbank, UniCredit Group, Citibank, OTP Bank, and others. In 2023, they earned $3.5 billion in net profit and paid $0.97 billion in income tax to the aggressor country’s budget. 

These findings are part of the KSE Institute’s special digest under the Self–Sanctions/LeaveRussia project, which examines the repercussions of foreign business withdrawals on the Russian economy.

In general, banks with the KSE “remain” status account for about 4.2% of all assets in the banking system (Raiffeisenbank—1.44%, UniCredit Bank—0.79%, Citibank—0.37%, OTP Bank—0.21%).

Last year, they earned $3.5 billion in net profit, compared to $3.93 billion in 2022. At the same time, the decline in dollar profit is primarily due to the ruble’s devaluation. While in 2022, the average exchange rate was 68.4 rubles per dollar, in 2023, it was already 85.1 rubles per dollar.

Because of this, according to the researchers, it is even possible to argue about an increase in net profit and accrued income tax in 2023 compared to 2022 (RUB 297.7 billion in 2023 vs. RUB 269.1 billion in 2022, or +10.6% per year.

In dollar terms, Raiffeisenbank’s $1.471 billion profit was the largest in 2023, followed by UniCredit Bank’s $0.685 billion profit, OTP Bank’s $0.255 billion profit, ICBC Bank’s $0.25 billion profit, Bank of China’s $0.19 billion profit, and Citibank’s $0.15 billion profit.

In total, international banks accrued $0.97 billion (or 83 billion rubles) in income tax in 2023, compared to $1.02 billion (or 69.9 billion rubles) in 2022. However, when converted into rubles, the increase in net profit and accrued income tax in 2023 compared to 2022 is +18.7% year over year. 

The largest income tax payers in 2023 were Raiffeisenbank—$0.490 billion, approximately 50% of all banks with KSE “stay” status; UniCredit Bank—$0.152 billion, OTP Bank—$0.069 billion, ICBC Bank—$0.064 billion, and Citibank—$0.053 billion.

In total, since the beginning of the full–scale invasion, only 9 banks have completely exited the Russian market, while another 15 have curtailed their operations. Please follow the link for more information on the number of foreign banks in Russia by country, profit, and assets.