Sanctioned Russian Banks Said to Woo Exporter Dollars

Russian banks cut off from U.S. and European capital markets by sanctions are wooing exporters with higher rates for deposits in euros and dollars, according to three people with knowledge of the situation.

Steelmaker OAO Severstal, which raised about $2 billion selling its U.S. assets in September, got offers to hold cash with Russia’s two biggest lenders at rates of 6 percent to 7 percent, compared with about 1 percent from international banks, two of the people said, asking not to be identified as the talks were private. OAO Novolipetsk Steel has pitches for as much as 5 percent, one person said.