Navigation

Sberbank says Swiss operations unaffected by sanctions

Sberbank Switzerland is not part of the European group, says the Russian bank. Keystone / Christian Bruna

Russian bank Sberbank will function as normal in Switzerland despite other parts of the group pulling out of the rest of Europe.

This content was published on March 3, 2022
swissinfo.ch/mga

The Zurich-based subsidiary is not part of Sberbank Europe Group that has been hit with sanctions from the European Union and the United States, a company spokesperson told the Swiss News Agency Keystone-SDA on Thursday.

Sanctions were imposed on a number of Russian individuals, companies and banks following Russia’s invasion of Ukraine a week ago. On Monday Switzerland said it would follow all of the sanctionsExternal link imposed by the EU.

The Swiss Financial Market Supervisory Authority (FINMA) told Keystone-SDA that it is monitoring the situation.

Sberbank Switzerland has around 250 corporate clients, mostly related to the raw materials sector. It employs some 100 staff and in 2020 it generated a profit of CHF58 million ($63 million).

The Russian bank opened an entity in canton Zug in 2020, called Sber Trading Swiss, to finance the trade of oil, gas, metals and agricultural commodities.

Along with Gazprom Bank and VTB Capital Investment Management, a commodities financing unit of VTB Bank, Sberbank Switzerland is heavily involved in the trading of a range of energy products, raw food materials and metals from the Swiss commodity trading hubExternal link.

Some 40% of all oil shipments are traded through Switzerland, along with 60% of metals and grains, according to the Swiss Trading and Shipping AssociationExternal link.

Price volatility

The theoretical departure of Russian banks from Switzerland could be compensated by a range of other banks that finance the flow of commodities around the world, according to one experienced Swiss trader who asked to remain anonymous.

Credit Suisse, UBS, cantonal banks, Crédit Agricole and Société Générale are among the Western banks that could step in to keep the Swiss trading hub financed.

But the Russian invasion of Ukraine has introduced increased price volatility throughout large sections of the commodities trading market, even for shipments unrelated to Russia, the trader said.

External Content
In compliance with the JTI standards

In compliance with the JTI standards

More: SWI swissinfo.ch certified by the Journalism Trust Initiative

You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here. Please join us!

If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.

Change your password

Do you really want to delete your profile?

Newsletters
Your subscription could not be saved. Please try again.
Almost finished... We need to confirm your email address. To complete the subscription process, please click the link in the email we just sent you.

Discover our weekly must-reads for free!

Sign up to get our top stories straight into your mailbox.

The SBC Privacy Policy provides additional information on how your data is processed.