Citi completes exit from Russia with sale of AO Citibank

Citi has announced the sale of its former Russian subsidiary, AO Citibank, to Renaissance Capital (RenCap).

The sale has resulted in Citi’s full exit from its operations in Russia, with the transaction including all remaining businesses alongside around 800 employees.

The transaction has received all the necessary regulatory approvals to go ahead.

Citi announced plans to exit its consumer business in Russia in April 2021 and expanded the scope of its exit process to include other lines of business in March 2022.

Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom LLP acted as counsel to Citi on the sale of AO Citibank.

The divesture of its remaining business operations was forecast to provide an estimated benefit to Citi’s Common Equity Tier 1 capital of $4bn in the first quarter of 2026.

This was expected to primarily be driven by the deconsolidation of associated risk-weighted assets, a reduction in disallowed deferred tax assets and the release of associated currency translation adjustment (CTA) loss.

Citi noted that while this would provide benefit in Q1 2026, the cumulative impact of the $1.6bn CTA loss was regulatory capital neutral to the investment bank.

“We’ve now completed the final steps in Citi’s exit from Russia, a process that began in March 2022,” commented Citi head of international, Ernesto Torres Cantú.

“We greatly appreciate the professionalism and hard work of our colleagues throughout this process.”

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