(13 August 2024 – Europe) Russia’s central bank has cancelled the banking licence of American Express Co’s Russian subsidiary after the U.S. lender’s unit filed a voluntary liquidation request.
As reported in Reuters, Russian President Vladimir Putin decreed in May that American Express could liquidate its Russian business, a little over two years after the company had suspended all its operation in Russia in response to what the firm called Russia’s “unjustified attack on the people of Ukraine”.
Amex ranked 300th in Russia’s banking system in terms of assets, the central bank said. Since mid-2022, foreign banks have required Putin’s approval to exit the market or sell stakes in their Russian business.
The bank’s Russian unit filed a liquidation application in early July, Russia’s corporate registry, SPARK, showed.