Raiffeisen shares fall 8% after being accused of helping Russia bypass sanctions

Shares of Raiffeisen Bank International (RBI) at auction at 11:37 GMT decreased by 8.1% to €59.59 per share. As of 13:01 GMT, the quotes of the Austrian group were adjusted at €59.7 per paper (-7.87%)

Today, the American investment company Grizzly Research published a report on the participation of Raiffeisen in facilitating the circumvention of sanctions and trade operations with Russia for $ 1.19 billion. During the investigation, the company found customs documents allegedly related to trade in sanctioned goods with the registration code of the contract of the Russian “daughter” Raiffeisen – JSC Raiffeisenbank.

The RBI has denied the Grizzly investigation. “We reaffirm the robustness of our compliance systems, which have been repeatedly reviewed,” the bank said in a statement.

The main asset of RBI in Russia is a subsidiary of Raiffeisenbank JSC. The Austrian group announced its intention to withdraw from the Russian market in the spring of 2022, but began this process only after increased pressure from the United States. In April of this year, the head of the RBI Supervisory Board Erwin Hameseder said that the group continues to work on the sale of Russian business, but compared the situation with “Sysyphean labor”.

At the end of 2025, Raiffeisenbank recorded a net loss of €86 million. The losses are largely due to the litigation of RBI with Rasperia Trading Limited (co-owner of the Austrian construction concern Strabag). She accused RBI of disrupting a deal to buy 24.1 per cent of Strabag's frozen shares for €1.5 billion.