Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, Europe’s financial sector raced on Thursday, with Allianz stating it had blocked its Russian government bond exposure and Lloyds, the main British domestic lender, warning it was on “heightened alert” for cyberattacks.
Deutsche Bank stated that it had backup procedures in place.
Shares of major banks plummeted at the opening of trading. The.SX7P> index of European banking stocks was down 4.2 percent in early trade, more than the Euro Stoxx index, which was down 3 percent.
Banks with extensive business in Russia were particularly heavily impacted, with Austria’s Raiffeisen Bank International down 9 percent and UniCredit and Societe Generale down 5 percent.
Earlier Thursday, Russian forces launched missiles at multiple Ukrainian cities and landed troops on the country’s coast, according to officials and media, after President Vladimir Putin authorised what he called a “special military operation” in the east.
According to data from the Bank for International Settlements, European banks are the world’s most exposed to Russia, particularly those in France, Italy, and Spain, which significantly outnumber US bank exposure.
BaFin, Germany’s financial regulator, said it was keeping a close eye on the problem.
Both Deutsche Bank and Allianz, two of Europe’s largest financial institutions with operations in Russia, stated that they were prepared to comply with the sanctions.
Allianz, one of the world’s asset managers, stated that the proportion of Russian government bonds in its portfolio is “now quite low,” and that it has recently put a freeze on those assets.
Deutsche Bank, like many other lenders, has curtailed its operations in Russia as sanctions against the country have tightened.
In a statement, the bank added, “We have contingency preparations in place.” A representative declined to go further.
Lloyds CEO Charlie Nunn told reporters that the company was “on high alert… internally around our cyber risk measures, which we’ve been focusing on for quite some time.”
Nunn added that preparations for future cyberattacks were discussed at a meeting between government and banking industry leaders about Russia on Wednesday.
Nunn stated that Lloyds has been on high alert for the “past couple of months.”
Post Your Comments