Bank Intesa announced its readiness to assist with the placement of Russian Eurobonds – RBC

Branch of Bank Intesa in Milan

Photo: AFP

Italian Intesa Bank announced its readiness to participate in the placement of Russian Eurobonds, despite pressure from Washington and Brussels. Previously, several major banks have refused to cooperate with Russia

Italian bank Intesa is ready to participate in the placement of Russian government bonds in spite of the US and EU recommendations. This was stated by Chairman of the Board of Directors of the bank, Antonio Fallico, TASS. In addition, he said the bank is ready to participate in the privatization of Russian companies.

«It is not the sanctions, and the recommendations of the American side. Bank Intesa is not said that we will follow these guidelines. And there are those banks that have said ‘yes’. We did not say anything, we will continue our work. Some banks said they will no longer fund the placement of Eurobonds in Russia’s favor. Against this background, Intesa said that, we continue “, – said Fallico

According to him, the bank is planning to participate in the privatization of Russian companies.. “What, until I can not say – it’s a professional secret”, – said chairman of the board of directors

Intesa Sanpaolo – Italian banking group with headquarters in Turin. It was established on 1 January 2007 through the merger of two Italian banks – Banca Intesa and Sanpaolo IMI. The group has 4,100 branches in Italy and 11.1 million customers, said the bank’s website.

Intesa Sanpaolo is among the top banking groups in the Eurozone with a market capitalization of € 40.7 billion , stated on the website. The group has retail banking, corporate banking and asset management. According to the statements of the group for the last year, its net income amounted to € 2.7 Mill. Offices Intesa Sanpaolo operating in Europe, USA, Africa, Russia, India and China. Russia has a subsidiary bank -. ZAO “Banca Intesa” (83 th place in terms of assets)

Previously, the newspaper The Wall Street Journal reported that US officials warned the US big banks to participate in the placement of Russian government bonds. According to the newspaper, in Washington decided that it would be contrary to the policy of sanctions against Moscow. Later it became known that a similar recommendation issued and the EU authorities.

Intesa is not included in the list of banks, which the Ministry of Finance sent a proposal to participate in the organization of Russian sovereign bonds. As I told RBC source in the Ministry of Finance, about the desire of the Italian bank to participate in the placement agency is not yet known. It ak told RBC source in the White House, the government will not be limited to the published list of banks, which offer were sent. “There are a lot of other banks that are interested in becoming a organizers accommodation, including Russian, Chinese, Swiss and, incidentally, the European”, – assured the interlocutor.

The top manager of one of the banks with foreign participation RBC said Fallico surprised by the statement. “For a foreign bank participation in the placement of bonds against the advice of the authorities – is a high risk, it is unlikely the bank on it goes, as the consequences can be serious, such as regulators can freeze the dollar account of the bank”, – said the banker

February 5, Russia sent 25 foreign banks application for organizing a possible placement of Eurobonds in 2016. Requests, in particular, directed Barclays, BNP Paribas, Bank of America Merrill Lynch, Bank of China, Wells Fargo, Goldman Sachs, J.P. Morgan, Deutsche Bank, Industrial and Commercial Bank of China, Crédit Agricole, Credit Suisse, Landesbank Baden-Wuerttemberg, Morgan Stanley, Mizuho Financial, Nomura, Citigroup, Societe Generale, Scotiabank, TD Securities, China Construction Bank, Agricultural Bank of China, HSBC, RBC Capital Markets, UBS, UniCredit, as well as three Russian banks, “VTB Capital», Gazprombank , Sberbank CIB

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in the international debt market in Russia last published in September 2013, when the paper sold at $ 6 billion, maturing in 2019, 2023 and 2043, respectively. Since then, Russia has access to international capital markets due to Western sanctions imposed after the annexation of Crimea, which virtually shut down the country external debt markets (although Western sanctions do not apply to government borrowings).