Europe Freezes Sberbank Units as Sanctions Squeeze Liquidity
- No ‘realistic chance’ seen that banks can restore liquidity
- Sberbank withdrawals to be limited in several countries
Customers queue to use a Sberbank ATM inside a shopping mall in Moscow, on Feb. 24.
Photographer: Andrey Rudakov/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Europe froze Sberbank of Russia PJSC’s main businesses in the bloc after regulators determined they were likely to fail in the wake of sanctions imposed over Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
The Single Resolution Board, which handles European lenders that run into trouble, suspended most payments at three Sberbank divisions until the end of March 1. That came after the European Central Bank determined that Austria-based Sberbank Europe AG and its subsidiaries in Croatia and Slovenia probably won’t be able to pay their debts or other liabilities as they fall due.