Last spring, Citi launched a plan to pull itself out of retail banking in 13 markets. And it managed to find buyers in seven. One of the loose ends, however, is Russia.
As sanctions against that country expand – stemming from the invasion of Ukraine last week – it’s becoming increasingly likely that a Russia consumer-banking unit will remain on Citi’s balance sheet longer than the Wall Street bank perhaps had hoped.
Citi warned investors Monday in a filing that it had $9.8 billion in exposure to Russia at the end https://loansolution.com/payday-loans-ny/ of 2021 – by far the highest total of any large U.S. bank. That includes $5.4 billion in loans, securities and funding commitments the bank classifies altogether as “country exposure.”
Add to that another $1 billion in cash Citi has at Russia’s central bank – currently immobile – and $1.8 billion of reverse repurchase agreements with various counterparties, and Citi has a “total third-party exposure” of $8.2 billion. The other $1.6 billion encompasses exposure to Russian entities by Citi verticals outside the bank’s Russia unit.
Still, there are 20 markets to which Citi is more exposed than Russia, according to the filing. The $5.4 billion Russia figure pales next to the $95.9 billion Citi counts in “country exposure” to Britain, for example. Continue reading “The bank warned investors Monday of exposure that includes loans, securities, funding commitments and cash at the country’s central bank”