The French banking group Société Générale announced on Monday that it intends to fully cease its business operations in Russia and has made an agreement to sell its Russian unit Rosbank to Interros Capital. The deal, which is currently subject to regular approval, will end Société Générale's 16-year presence in the country and make it the first major European financial institution to leave Russia since Russia's illegal full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24th.

Société Générale was one of several financial institutions in the past few weeks to declare that it would review its strategic options in Russia and consider an exit or business reduction as a result of the risks posed by the invasion of Ukraine, alongside large banks such as Raiffeisen Bank International, the largest foreign bank operating in Russia, and Intesa Sanpaolo.

By being the first of these banks to decisively follow through on this strategic review and divest from Russia, Société Générale has set a morally and financially sound example for others to follow. Since the onset of the war on Ukraine, BankTrack has alerted commercial banks to the significant human rights, financial, and environmental risks linked to business activities in Russia. Sociéte Générale’s decision to exit Russia, though financially costly in the short-term, will significantly contribute to reducing these risks: The bank’s share price rose by 7% on Monday in response to the news, indicating renewed investor confidence as a result of severed links with the highly volatile and unstable Russian market.