Citigroup could lose billions in Russia, bank helping staff leave Ukraine -executives

A Citibank department is seen in central Moscow, August 24, 2016. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov

NEW YORK, March 2 (Reuters) – Citigroup Inc (C.N)might face billions of {dollars} of losses at its Russian enterprise and helps a few of its 200 workers in Ukraine depart the nation following Russia’s invasion, executives stated on Wednesday.

The financial institution’s complete publicity to Russia amounted to just about $10 billion on the finish of final 12 months, it stated on Monday, far greater than beforehand communicated.

Requested on the financial institution’s investor day about potential losses in Russia, Chief Monetary Officer Mark Mason stated it had run well being checks to find out how a lot of that publicity may very well be misplaced beneath totally different potential outcomes.

“We have been working very intently with our threat administration to run numerous situations as to what that publicity might imply beneath totally different stress situations,” he stated. “Taking a look at a extreme stress situation that quantity, on the excessive finish, may very well be rather less than half of that publicity nevertheless it is also so much lower than that relying on how the scenario evolves.”

The financial institution is trying to scale back its publicity to Russian property utilizing hedging and different methods, Mason stated.

“We have been managing that publicity very proactively to carry that quantity down,” Mason stated.

The financial institution is making an attempt to promote its Russian shopper enterprise. Chief Govt Officer Jane Fraser stated it was “too early to inform” how that sale course of shall be affected. The one publicly named purchaser had been Russian state financial institution VTB Financial institution (VTBR.MM), which is the topic of U.S. sanctions.

The financial institution additionally stated it had been serving to these amongst its 200 workers in Ukraine who need to depart that nation to take action, sending pay prematurely and offering different help.

“We have been serving to people who need to get throughout the border into Poland, giving them protected lodging there, we have given them advances on their payroll, emergency provides, medical availability and as a lot assist as we probably can,” she stated.

The financial institution can be supporting workers that need to stick it out in Ukraine, Fraser stated. She recommended them for persevering with to serve the financial institution’s shoppers, together with multi-national corporations.

“Each single day by means of this conflict they’ve been working our financial institution and ensuring that we’re working on the bottom in order that we’re in a position to serve our shoppers there, the multi-nationals,” she stated. “They’re fairly distinctive of their drive, what they’re desirous to do for the nation, for the financial institution and for our shoppers.”

Reporting by Matt Scuffham, David Henry in New York and Noor Zainab Hussain in Bangalore; Modifying by Leslie Adler, Nick Zieminski and Bernard Orr

: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.