European Central Bank predicts bankruptcy of Sberbank Europe

European Central Bank predicts bankruptcy of Sberbank Europe

European Central Bank predicts bankruptcy of Sberbank Europe
The European financial regulator has published information about the possible bankruptcy of the financial group Sberbank Europe AG.  Its head office is located in Austria, and two subsidiaries operate in Croatia and Slovenia.  According to the ECB, the cause of insolvency could be a huge outflow of funds from deposits against the backdrop of the situation in the field of geopolitics.

According to the representatives of the ECB, the company is unlikely to be able to repay debts to customers on upcoming obligations.  At the same time, it is currently impossible to take any measures to restore the solvency of Sberbank Europe organizations.

The question of whether the banks in Croatia and Slovenia will go bankrupt should be decided at a meeting of the Single Council dealing with financial problems of the European Union (Single Resolution Board).  If the bankruptcy of banks becomes real, the bank's customers will be able to count on insurance compensation.
Deposits of individuals up to ˆ100,000 are insured.
What is more, reputational risks threaten the ruin of the Czech subsidiary of Sberbank.  On Sunday, Czech journalists learned that the doors of Sberbank CZ branches would not be opened for security reasons.  All operations with bank cards and the work of Internet banking were suspended.

In November 2021, Sberbank Europe got rid of a number of subsidiaries in Eastern and Central Europe (Hungary, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina), having sold the assets of Serbian MK Group for ˆ500 million. However, information about transactions regarding credit structures in the Czech Republic and  Austria has not been published.

We should recall that the consequence of the start of Russian special operation in Ukraine was the introduction of sanctions against Sberbank and its subsidiaries by the United States.  The credit institution was included in the CAPTA register, after which it’s correspondent accounts have been limited in the states.  And although the bank's funds themselves are not planned to be frozen, financial transactions with the bank from American financial institutions will become impossible after March 26.

01.03.2022