In the context of Putin’s war in Ukraine, cutting financial ties with Russian energy companies and non-Russian fossil fuel companies active in the country is not an option, it’s a moral requirement. The export of coal, oil and gas is financing the war on Ukraine: oil and gas sales made up 36% of Russia’s budget last year and have allowed Putin to build up $470bn in foreign reserves.
The entire American finance sector has now been requested by the US government to cease new investments and new financing services for Russia’s energy sector and foreign companies producing energy in Russia. At least 14 other financial institutions committed to curtail financial services for Russian activities to different extents. Some financial institutions, such as Carmignac and the Church of England, are also committing to take a step further and divest from existing Russian securities. Others, however, have only made statements to shed light on their ties with Russian companies. Below is a non-exhaustive list of the various announcements from private financial institutions on the situation.
Unfortunately, many other banks, insurers and investors have so far remained completely silent on the issue. Alongside with 75 NGOs, Reclaim Finance is calling on these banks, insurers and investors to step up and exclude Russian coal, oil and gas companies from all financial services. In particular, we call on them to commit to no longer providing new financing, investment, insurance coverage and other financial services to these companies, and divest from existing assets. We also call on them to immediately suspend all financial services for TotalEnergies, Fortum/Uniper, Wintershall DEA and other non-Russian fossil fuel companies active in Russia until these groups have withdrawn from their operations in the country, like BP, Shell, Equinor and ExxonMobil have already committed to.
This list is a living document. It was last updated on 11/04/2022 at 17:00 CEST.
Financial Institution | Type of FI | Country | Announcement | Focus on energy sector | Type of announcement | Article’s date | Source |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Société Générale | Group | France | Ceases its banking and insurance activities in Russia and announces the sale of its entire stake in Rosbank | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 11/04/2022 | Click here |
BNP Paribas | Group | France | Stopping all new business in Russia and stopping processing local transactions | No | Suspension of some financial services to Russian companies | 21/03/2022 | Click here |
Church of England | AO | UK | Joint letter to TotalEnergies to urge it to cut ties with Russia | Yes | Other | 16/03/2022 | Click here |
Munich Re | Re/insurer | Germany | Will not renew existing contracts in Russia and Belarus, and new business has been suspended. Will do the same with its investments in the region. | No | Suspension new financial services to Russian companies | 16/03/2022 | Click here |
EU FIs | EU FIs | EU | A far-reaching ban on new investment across the Russian energy sector, with limited exceptions for civil nuclear energy and the transport of certain energy products back to the EU. | Yes | Suspension of new financial services to Russian companies and non-Russian companies operating in the country. | 15/03/2022 | Click here |
Citi | Group | USA | We have now decided to expand the scope of that exit [operations in Russia] process to include other lines of business and continue to reduce our remaining operations and exposure. | No | Suspension some financial services to Russian companies | 14/03/2022 | Click here |
Deutsche Bank | Group | Germany | Process of winding down remaining business in Russia. Helping its non-Russian multinational clients in reducing their operations. No new business in Russia. | No | Suspension some financial services to Russian companies | 11/03/2022 | Click here |
Clearway Capital | AO | Australia | Has written to the board of TotalEnergies calling on it to exit its Russian operations in light of the war in Ukraine or face a vote on the issue at its next shareholder meeting. | Yes | Other | 11/03/2022 | Click here |
Raiffeisen Bank International | Bank | Austria | Halted the payment of its dividend as it assesses the impact of economic sanctions | No | Other | 10/03/2022 | Click here |
Goldman Sachs | Bank | USA | Closing out pre-existing obligations in the market. Still trading corporate debt tied to Russia | No | Suspension some financial services to Russian companies | 10/03/2022 | Click here |
BNP Paribas | Group | France | Implementation of international sanctions and decisions by public authorities | No | Statement but not commitments to cease financial services to Russian companies | 09/03/2022 | Click here |
USA FIs | USA FIs | USA | USA Gov. bans: New U.S. investment in Russia’s energy sector and Americans prohibited from financing or enabling foreign companies that are making investment to produce energy in Russia | Yes | Suspension new financial services to Russian companies | 08/03/2022 | Click here |
JPMorgan | AM/Index provider | USA | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure/Remove Russian debt from its bond indices | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure/Exclusion of Russia from certain indexes or bonds | 07/03/2022 | Click here and here |
Amundi | AM | France | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
UBS | AM | Switzerland | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
BNP Paribas | AM | France | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Abrdn | AM | UK | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Schroders | AM | UK | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Pictet | AM | Switzerland | Has frozen funds with significant Russian exposure | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Prosperity Capital Management | AM | Cayman Islands | Has suspended investor redemptions and net asset value calculations | No | Other | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Crédit Agricole | Group | France | There has been no new financing to Russian counterparts since the beginning of the conflict. | No | Statement but not commitments to cease financial services to Russian companies | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
Carmignac | AM | France | Prohibits itself from now on, “until further notice, any purchase of Russian securities” and commits itself “to manage the exit of the securities still present in the portfolios | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 07/03/2022 | Click here |
S&P Dow Jones Indices | Index provider | USA | Removing all stocks listed and/or domiciled in Russia from its benchmarks | No | Exclusion of Russia from certain indexes or bonds | 04/03/2022 | Click here |
FTSE Russell | Index provider | USA | Drop Russian bonds from its fixed-income indexes | No | Exclusion of Russia from certain indexes or bonds | 04/03/2022 | Click here |
ABP | AO | Netherlands | Sale of its Russian assets | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
Bpf Bouw | AO | Netherlands | Sale of its Russian assets | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
Société Générale | Group | France | Sanctions by the EU | No | Statement but not commitments to cease financial services to Russian companies | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
DWS | AM | Germany | Actively managed mutual funds won’t make new investments in Russian securities. Suspend the subscription of new shares” in mutual funds that have significant Russian exposure. Suspended Russia exchange-traded funds. | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 03/03/2022 | Click here and here |
Japan Bank for International Cooperation | Bank | Japan | Will consider terminating the credit line agreement it has with Sberbank. Loans to the Arctic 2 LNG project and Yamal LNG project are still outstanding. | No | Statement but not commitments to cease financial services to Russian companies | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
Generali | Insurer | Italy | Closing its Moscow office and wind down its Europe Assistance business in Russia. Will also give up its seats on the board of Ingosstrakh, one of Russia’s largest insurers in which it holds a 38.5% stake. | No | Other | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
Intesa Sanpaolo | Bank | Italy | Is conducting a strategic review of its presence in Russia | No | Statement but not commitments to cease financial services to Russian companies | 03/03/2022 | Click here |
MSCI | Index provider | USA | Reclassify the MSCI Russia Indexes from Emerging Markets to Standalone Markets Status | No | Exclusion of Russia from certain indexes or bonds | 02/03/2022 | Click here |
Nordea | AM | Finland | Sell down all its Russian investments | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 01/03/2022 | Click here |
HSBC | AM | UK | Has frozen Russia-focused equity funds. Suspended Russia exchange-traded funds | No | Freezes funds with significant Russian exposure | 01/03/2022 | Click here |
BlackRock | AM | USA | Suspended the purchase of all Russian securities in our active and index funds. Has proactively advocated with our index providers to remove Russian securities from broad-based indices. | No | Suspension some financial services to Russian companies | 28/02/2022 | Click here |
KLP | AO | Norway | Sell out of Russian stocks and bonds listed in London and New York. | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 28/02/2022 | Click here |
Britain’s Universities Superannuation Scheme | AO | UK | Not to buy more Russian assets | No | Suspension new financial services to Russian companies | 28/02/2022 | Click here |
Church of England | AO | UK | Sell out of Russian stocks | No | Divestment from Russian companies or projects | 25/02/2022 | Click here |