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Lenders and investors with links to Russia have been cutting
ties to the country as Western sanctions have been brought to
bear, while others have sought to reassure their shareholders
that the direct impact could be contained.
French asset manager Carmignac and British professional services
firm EY became the latest on Monday to say they were severing
links.
Carmignac said it would not buy Russian securities and would
divest from existing assets, while EY said it was axing links
with operations in Russia following similar moves by rivals KPMG
and PwC.
The escalating crisis is also causing upheaval at the top of
companies, with multiple board members at Russian firms
including the British chairmen of gold and silver producer
Polymetal and metals and hydropower group En+ quitting.
The London Stock Exchange separately said it had cancelled some
trades in Polymetal after shares surged by over 700% at one
point on Monday.
One of France's major banks Credit Agricole became the latest to
detail its exposure to Russia and Ukraine, saying this stood at
around 6.4 billion euros ($6.95 billion) in total across on and
off balance sheet exposures.
The lender said the exposures were of a "limited size and of
good quality" and were being closely monitored, adding they
would not impact distribution of its 2021 dividend.
Swiss banking giant UBS also detailed its direct exposure to
Russia in its annual report, putting this at $634 million at the
end of 2021. The bank said its direct exposure was limited and
had been reduced since, though this could be affected by
sanctions.
Graphic: European bank shares,
https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/
gfx/mkt/movanddozpa/european%20banks.JPG The euro zone banking
share index dropped by as much as 9.5% to a 13-month low in
early trading on Monday, before paring losses. It was down 4% by
1115 GMT.
Bank stocks have fallen sharply as the crisis worsened, with
investors preparing for the economic cost of the conflict.
Lenders with operations in Russia - including Austria's
Raiffeisen, Italy's UniCredit and France's Societe Generale -
have been particularly affected, and all three saw double digit
percentage falls early on Monday.
The United States and Europe are mulling a Russian oil import
ban, which analysts say could further stoke energy prices and
inflation and dampen recovery. Britain said on Monday it was
also considering a similar ban.
($1 = 0.9204 euros)
(Reporting by Carolyn Cohn and Huw Jones, Additional reporting
by Sachin Ravikumar in Bengaluru, Sudip Kar-Gupta in Paris,
Brenna Hughes Neghaiwi in Zurich and Joice Alves in London,
Writing by Iain Withers; edinting by Kirsten Donovan and Jason
Neely)
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