Russia's Sberbank to leave European market in face of cash outflows

Highlights:

• The United States and other member states of the International Energy Agency (IEA) agreed to release 60 million barrels of oil reserves to compensate for supply disruptions
• The International Monetary Fund and World Bank said they were racing to provide billions of dollars of additional funding to Ukraine in coming weeks and months
• The Group of Seven major economies will convene a task force to focus on freezing and seizing assets of key Russian elites, U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen said after a meeting of finance chiefs
• Some of America's best-known companies including Apple, Boeing, Google, Ford and Exxon Mobil rebuked and rejected Russia for its invasion of Ukraine, under steady pressure from investors and consumers decrying the violence
• Russia said it was placing temporary restrictions on foreigners seeking to exit Russia assets. Russian assets went into freefall on Tuesday with London-listed ishares MSCI Russia ETF plunging 33% to hit a fresh record low
• European Union countries are considering a ban on Russian ships entering their ports, after similar moves by Canada and the United Kingdom. The world's biggest shipping lines MSC and Maersk suspended container shipping to and from Russia

Russia's largest lender, Sberbank, is leaving the European market as its subsidiaries there face large cash outflows and threats to the safety of employees and property, the bank said on Wednesday.

The bank, set to unveil 2021 financial results later, said it was no longer able to supply liquidity to European subsidiaries, following a central bank order, but its capital level and asset quality were sufficient to pay all depositors.

"In the current situation, Sberbank has decided to leave the European market," it said in a statement. "The group's subsidiary banks have faced abnormal cash outflows and threats to the safety of its employees and branches."

Unprecedented steps by Western nations to isolate Russia's economy and financial system over its invasion of Ukraine include sanctions on its central bank and the exclusion of some of its lenders from global payments system SWIFT.

The European Central Bank (ECB) had already ordered the closure of Sberbank's European arm, after warning that it faced failure because of a run on its deposits sparked by the invasion backlash.

Sberbank, which operates in Austria, Croatia, Germany and Hungary among other nations, had European assets worth 13 billion euros by December 31, 2020.

The exit does not affect the bank's operations in Switzerland.