BANKS DODGY DEALS CAMPAIGNS
About BankTrack
Visit us
Organisation
Our team
Our board
Guiding principles
Team up with us
Jobs at BankTrack
Our annual reports
Funding and finances
History
BankTrack in the media
Our privacy policy
Donate
2023-03-17 00:00:00
Briefing: The role of financial institutions in decarbonising the steel sector
2023-03-09 00:00:00
Dutch bank ING supports controversial pipeline to import gas from authoritarian Azerbaijan
2023-02-23 00:00:00
Financial institutions need to address steelmaking’s coal addiction
2023-02-07 00:00:00
What COP15 means for banks: meeting the Global Biodiversity Framework requires protecting Indigenous rights and divesting from harmful industries
2023-03-20 08:50:41
Who dares to finance Eni and Exxon’s dangerous Rovuma gas plans in Mozambique?
2023-03-14 14:59:00
New ING policy could spark bank shift away from financing oil and gas infrastructure
2023-02-24 13:46:14
Pego power station conversion plans halted
2022-12-14 11:08:26
HSBC announces it will no longer finance new oil and gas fields
Connect
2022-11-22 00:00:00
Banking on Thin Ice: Two years in the heat
2022-11-17 00:00:00
BankTrack Global Human Rights Benchmark 2022
2022-10-21 00:00:00
Burning forests in the name of clean energy? How banks are failing to exclude the harmful wood biomass industry from finance
2022-06-28 00:00:00
The East African Crude Oil Pipeline (EACOP): Finance Risk Update No. 3
2022-04-05 00:00:00
The BankTrack Human Rights Benchmark Asia
2022-03-30 00:00:00
Banking on Climate Chaos 2022
See all publications
Sections
Banks Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate
Banks and Human Rights
Banks and Nature
Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA
Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine
Tracking the Equator Principles
Tracking the PRBs
Find a Better Bank
Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances History BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter Login
Home › Partner news ›
Partner News

"Stop financing the war against Ukraine"

Rally in Vienna called on Raiffeisen Bank to pull out of Russia
2022-12-05 | Vienna
By: Business for Ukraine
Rally in Vienna calling on Raiffeisen to exit Russia. Photo: Business for Ukraine
2022-12-05 | Vienna
By: Business for Ukraine

Several dozen Ukrainian activists held a protest in Vienna on the evening of December 2 calling on Raiffeisen Bank International to pull out of the Russian market, reports B4Ukraine coalition, which, together with the Vienna-based NGO Mrija, co-organized the rally.

RBI is one of the largest foreign banks remaining in Russia, employing 9,000 staff in-country. In the first nine months of 2022, RBI earned half its net profit from the Russian market. This year, it made €1.4 billion in profit in Russia — four times more than in the same period last year. These earnings suggest that RBI still pays significant amounts in taxes to the Russian state, thus indirectly contributing to funding for Russia’s devastating war, war crimes, and atrocities in Ukraine.

The demonstrators gathered near the Alserbach Palace, where the management of Raiffeisen Bank was having a holiday party. Employees of the bank walked past the demonstrators, who explained through loudspeakers why Raiffeisen Bank should leave Russia, and displayed photos of the atrocities of the Russian occupiers in Bucha and Izyum, as well as posters with the inscriptions “Russia is a terrorist state”, “Putin is a war criminal”, “Close Visa and MasterCard issued in Russia”, etc.

B4Ukraine Executive Director Ellie Nichol emphasizes that while many international banks have announced plans to exit Russia, the RBI has remained. “Its employees, shareholders and leadership must now ask themselves how they feel about this. Is RBI’s bouncy bottom line worth the long-term legal and reputational price of doing business with Russia?” says Nichol.

According to Andry Karioti, an activist of the Ukrainian community in Vienna, every company employee is indirectly involved in Russian war crimes on the territory of Ukraine, as long as it remains in Russia. “If this is Raiffeisen’s choice, then there was nothing left but to wish them a delicious punch with Ukrainian blood,” says Karioti.

This is the fourth protest organized by Mrija activists demanding that RBI leaves Russia. Last March under pressure from the public and the media, RBI CEO Johann Strobl said that “a bank is not a sausage stand.”

International companies, including RBI, are now obliged to assist the Kremlin’s war mobilization. According to Reuters, a Russian employee of Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International was killed after being mobilised to fight against Ukraine, despite the bank writing to the draft office seeking an exemption. Raiffeisen in Russia declined to comment and its head office in Austria, as well as the Russian Defence Ministry, did not immediately respond to Reuters inquiries. B4Ukraine also wrote to Raiffeisen to request a meeting but has not received any response.

Banks

Raiffeisen Bank International

Austria
Active
Sections
Banks Policies Dodgy Deals Campaigns
Our campaigns
Banks and Climate Banks and Human Rights Banks and Nature Banks and Pandemics
Our projects
Tracking the NZBA Banks and Putin's war in Ukraine Tracking the Equator Principles Tracking the PRBs Find a Better Bank Banks and the OECD Guidelines
Media
News Publications
Fossil Banks No Thanks StopEACOP Forests & Finance Banks & Biodiversity Drop JBS Bank of Coal Don't Buy into Occupation
BankTrack
About BankTrack Visit us Organisation Our team Our board Guiding principles Team up with us Jobs at BankTrack Our annual reports Funding and finances History BankTrack in the media Our privacy policy Donate
Successes Contact BankTrack
Vismarkt 15
6511 VJ Nijmegen
The Netherlands
Tel: +31 24 324 9220
Contact@banktrack.org
Donate Mailing list Facebook Twitter
©2022 BankTrack
BankTrack is a registered charity in the Netherlands (ANBI) - RSIN 813874658
Find our privacy policy here

Stay up to date

Sign up now for all BankTrack's news


Make a comment

Your comment will be reviewed, before being posted