From the end of March, BNP Paribas will no longer insure its clients’ transactions in Russia, a secondary market for the bank.
In the midst of controversy over the presence of large French companies in Russia, BNP Paribas has chosen to suspend the services of its Russian subsidiary almost a month after the invasion of Ukraine. In a short press release, the first bank in the euro zone indicates that it has “initially, decided to suspend all new funding and, secondly, decided to suspend all new projects in Russia (…). Consequently, BNP Paribas has informed its clients that its subsidiary BNP Paribas ZAO will no longer be able to process their transactions from the end of March.“Warns the French banking giant.
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Low exposure to the Russian market
This freezing of activities in Russia should not weigh too heavily on the bank. From the start of the conflict, BNP assured that it had relatively little exposure to the Russian and Ukrainian markets. “BNP Paribas already had a limited presence after having gradually reduced its presence in Russia over the past few years by ending its retail banking activities in 2012 and its consumer credit activities in 2020. BNP Paribas was already the least active of the foreign banks operating in the country,” says BNP Paribas.
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BNP Paribas is therefore freezing its activities in Russia, which does not mean a definitive exit from the country. Even more exposed in Russia, its competitors Société Générale and Crédit Agricole are more cautious and have not yet pronounced a halt to their local activities.